How We Heal
by Joker is Poker with a J
Summary: Ambitious, bitter, work-a-holic David Jacobs is bent on making The Benjamin Hotel the most luxurious hotel in New York-and probably everywhere else. To say he's not looking for love is an understatement. Unfortunately, love is going to find him in the form of a Prima Ballerina, new to town, and who's being targeted for mysterious reasons. Fourth installment in the BHS.
1. Chapter 1

_January 14_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Dearest Nina,_

 _I know you don't want to talk to me. I know you're young and you don't believe me when I say that what I did was for your own good but believe me, it was. Darling, I couldn't have you give up everything you have worked so hard for. Just for one man? Who could leave you high and dry once he gets what he wants?_

 _You won't believe me, but I know all about that. There's some things we will discuss the next time you're home. You're old enough, I think, that I can tell my secrets to you. Let me know how things are going. I love you_ _forever, my_ _solnishko._

 _Love,_

 _Mama_

* * *

 _ **October 3**_ _ **rd**_ _ **, 1907**_

"Hello, David." The voice was raspier than he remembered and the face that greeted him was so much older as well. Still, you could tell that in her youth she had been beautiful. He wondered that looking at her, seeing the resemblance, didn't make his heart ache as much this year. It gave him the briefest pause to consider that, and he tucked it away to analyze later.

"Edith. How are you?" He asked, transferring the flowers he held to his right hand so he could step forward to offer the older woman his arm, his boots crunching on the leaves that had begun to fall the last few weeks, sending New York into a vibrant display of oranges, reds, and yellows.

Edith Elliot took his arm, patted it lightly, and smiled gently up at him, "Very well, because of you. But, really, I must insist you stop sending me things. I can manage on my own, you know, and I'm really just one person. I don't need very much." She told him, adjusting her shawl as a light, fall breeze rustled through the trees. Summer was holding on long enough to give them a warm enough autumn, but the cool breezes that swept through had the bite of winter to them.

They were quite a pair, walking through the cemetery. David was more than a foot taller over her own not-quite-five-foot stature, and where David was dressed formally in black, Edith was wearing a skirt in the brightest shade of red, her top a dark, chocolate color that complimented her brown eyes that were exactly the shade of his Minny's. Again, though, he felt worried that the ache of seeing them wasn't as much this year. Instead of the roar of grief he was used to, it was now as weak as a kitten's mew.

David all but ignored Edith's words, unconcerned about the items he sent to her, anything from flour for baking to the occasional yard or two of material. He felt it was only right that he took care of her after they had both lost the most important person in their life eight years ago. "It's no trouble, Edith." He told her, not really interested in chatting. Edith seemed to realize this, and they fell into a companionable silence.

Eight years.

He felt a bittersweet taste fill his mouth as they closed in on the stone that marked where she was buried. So much had changed; he was far from that boy who loved her like she was his universe, could no longer remember what that feeling was like. Would she have loved the man he had become? Part of him felt like she wouldn't have. Yet, this man he had become wouldn't exist if she had lived, of that he was sure.

 _Beloved Daughter._ David experienced a surreal feeling, as if he were gazing down on himself and Edith, in an out of body way. A man and woman standing over a gravestone of a girl who would never become a woman, who would never live past sixteen, would never marry or have children. He should feel the grief that he felt the day she died in his arms, should feel the overwhelming pain at losing his first and perhaps only love.

But, he no longer felt that grief so acutely. It had let each passing year bury it farther, just like she was buried under six feet of soil. For so long, David let her death define him, to drive him. He had built his empire trying to fill the space in his soul that had appeared after her death.

But, now? Time had taken a thread and needle to his pain, had stitched it up as effectively as the best surgeon and he was left unable to push work into a void that was no longer there. He had beat grief, had moved on from Minny, had healed too well. He no longer remembered the sound of her voice or the exact details of her face.

That was the worst part of healing, he started to realize. As much as he tried to hang onto her, the dead did not linger long.

Crouching down, he laid the flowers along the gravestone. He continued to squat there, staring at her name and the dates scrolled beneath _October 3_ _rd_ _, 1883-March 3_ _rd_ _, 1900_ , remembering the first time he had met her, near the end of August right after the excitement of the strike had died down. David had just begun to work at the Hotel Chelsea under the private tutelage of the owner, an enigmatic and older gentleman by the name of J. H. Walty. The man had been a ruthless businessman, but not the greatest hotel manager.

Minny had lived across the street from the hotel, and he had caught glimpses of her before and after work, sometimes from the window of one of the hotel rooms and her beauty had caught his initial interest.

Towards the end of her life, he had fervently wished he had grown the courage to talk to her sooner, to have gotten even a day more of her love and light. He'd have sold his soul for just second more with her.

"Edi?" He asked, not looking at the woman and surprised he was about to ask something so personal, which was quite unlike him. But, the words left his mouth before he could stop them, "Has the pain of losing Minny and Will dulled for you?"

It was silent for a few minutes as Edith turned over his question. Finally, she answered as he rose beside her, eyes still caught on the gravestone that made no mention of their great love story. "Yes. But, that is the curse of the living, David. If we felt that pain on a daily basis, as fresh as the moment we first felt it, we would never survive life. Forgetting our dead loved ones, at least aspects of them, is how we heal."

He blew out a breath, "You can leave whenever you want. I might stay here a little while longer."

She touched his arm lightly, "Visit your family today. I think it would do you well to be around them."

Nodding absentmindedly, he listened as her footsteps grew distance until he was left with the soft silence of the cemetery. A bright orange leaf fell from the oak whose branches hung over her grave and landed gently on the top of the stone. Lightly, he brushed it off and sighed, reading her the stone, realizing just how cold it was to have your entire life shortened to a few simple words and dates.

 _Benjamin 'Minny' Violet Elliot. Beloved Daughter. October 3_ _rd_ _, 1883-March 3_ _rd_ _, 1900_

Turning away from it, he walked away, not in the direction of his parent's apartment like Edith had suggested, but towards another part of Manhattan. His mistress, work, would not be kept waiting.

 **A/N: _solnishko_ means sunshine in Russian. I actually cannot write the actual Russian letters, but that's how it's pronounced. Yay for David's story! I just started my semester, though, so updates maybe slow for this particular story. I hope you all are as excited as me for this! I feel like it's a long time coming. Also, I've decided to do a Jack story after this one. So another BHS story!**

 **Anywho, please review!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	2. Chapter 2

_February 23_ _rd_ _, 1899_

 _Dear Nina,_

 _Your silence is childish. But, I cannot be angry with you for it. I only hope you at least read these letters and know that sending you to St. Petersburg was for your own good. I regret not explaining it to you further when I had the chance and to be honest, my sweet daughter, I've gotten some news from the doctor that is less than ideal._

 _If your silence continues and my time seems to run short, I may have to leave you my secrets in writing. I only wish I didn't have to. If anyone found out my secret, your father and I's secret, it could cost you everything. I do not want you to pay the price of a foolish choice I made young, any more than I wanted to see you make my same mistake._

 _I love you always,_

 _Mama_

* * *

 _ **October 13**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 1907**_

"NINA!" The squeal of delight was almost ear-splitting, and had the effect of immediately bringing Nina from her sleep. It was quickly followed by a sudden weight on top of her as her best friend, Natalia Malakhov, leaped on her. "Wake up, sleeping beauty." She crooned the Russian words into her ear, her voice going low, her hot breath tickling Nina's ear.

Nina groaned, "Get off me, you morning troll." She grated out, pushing her friend away and huddling further under her bed covers. This scenario was a daily tradition upheld by the friends for close to nine years. This routine was so well-known, in fact, it had become common knowledge among the company that Nina Teleshova was not a morning person. Natalia, on the other hand, was notoriously renown for being a sun-shining ray of annoyance to anyone who was not up before her.

"Oh, but Nina, you _must_ want to catch the first glimpse of New York's harbor." Natalia's voice had evened out to a respectable volume, allowing Nina to peek her head out of the covers.

"We're not supposed to be there for another few hours." Nina replied.

Natalia looked smug as she informed her friend, "But, you'll be able to see the Statue of Liberty soon!"

That brought Nina out of bed, the prospect of catching sight of America waking her up more effectively than a mug of coffee. Although, she still stopped to grab a cup of that on her way towards the deck.

The RMS _Baltic_ had been the largest ocean liner up until two years ago. However, Nina found the ship to still be quite a luxurious ship, having been on her fair share of them. This was the longest she had been on one, though. A week on the sea had taken time to adjust to and she couldn't imagine how tough it would be on the entire Ballet company to get back into dancing after being rocked by a ship for seven days.

Natalia caught up with Nina, a trail of five other girls behind them as was usual when you were a prima ballerina. "Nikolai says we should be docked by noon." She sighed wistfully, "Land. How I missed solid ground."

Nina sipped her mug of coffee before she sighed, "I can't wait to see New York." It was bound to be a different sight than Paris. The Imperial Russian Ballet had never once left its home country-up until a year and a half ago when the company manager decided to do performances in Paris. It had been exhilarating for Nina, to be one of the first Ballerina's to go on what they were calling 'tour'.

And now they could claim going international.

"Sergei says a Frenchman called New York appalling. Dirty and loud." Natalia told her, seriously, as they stepped up towards the bow of the ship to see New York.

"Sergei is a mandjuk." Nina informed her friend, ignoring her gasp at Nina's language. She didn't know why Natalia was surprised she called him a dickhead, Sergei may have been the lead male dancer, the one she danced with more often than any other, but that didn't mean she had to like him. He had the biggest ego of any man she had ever met and he seemed to think all of the women in the company were only here for his pleasure.

They fell into silence as the ship gently rocked them, the rush of the ocean booming in their ears as the ship raced forward. Nina closed her eyes briefly as her dark hair whipped around her face, the smell of the sea overwhelming her sense of smell. She loved the ocean. It smelled the same wherever they traveled; salt, brine, and seaweed. Crisp and refreshing.

As much as she loved traveling, she also found herself desperately wishing to stop. To slow down. She was almost twenty-six, her career as a ballerina quickly coming to a close and she felt a looming wash of relief waiting for when she would finally, _finally_ retire.

Now, all she needed was the right place to call home and a part of her felt as if America was it. Her mother had always wanted to come here, had talked of America so much growing up that she had developed a longing for it long ago. What charms did the Americans have that enticed the rest of the world to leave everything they knew to come here? What adventures awaited her?

"There it is." Natalia breathed and Nina barely heard her over the roar of the ocean. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second longer and then opened them wide so she could take in everything.

A fog had settled on the harbor that morning, but it's tendrils were losing their grip and ever so slowly they dissipated and out of it rose the commanding, yet somehow welcoming form of the Statue of Liberty. Freedom, at last.

"We're here." Nina murmured, a feeling of something great, something wonderful, settling in the pit of her stomach. She had learned over the last few years to trust that gut instinct, so she held onto it as they sped toward Lady Liberty.

* * *

"Uck, foul Americans!" Sergei's voice was, unfortunately, the first thing she heard right before she stepped off the ship and then she understood as she caught wind of the rather unpleasant smell of the city.

So, Sergei was a dickhead, but he had relayed the truth from the Frenchman. New York smelled fairly offensive, and that wasn't the only thing to assault her senses. Loud noises, ugly buildings, everything assaulting her at once. She supposed for those who lived here, they were rather indifferent to it all.

For a moment, she had second thoughts on living here. But, then a man ran up and offered to take her trunk to load onto the carriage and she thought that perhaps Americans were nicer than anyone had ever told her. She handed her trunk to him, smiling gratefully, until she watched him walk past the carriage where they were loading everyone else's things and took off running. "WAIT!" She exclaimed, shock having her shout in Russian when she should have been speaking English here.

The man would have gotten away, except he was tripped by another, much younger man in a navy blue uniform that didn't quite fit right. The new stranger pinned the thief down and wrenched the trunk from his hands. "Now, that ain't a nice welcoming ta da lady." He said, half sarcastically, before stepping over him and approaching her cautiously. "Sorry, miss. Gotta be careful who ya give things to."

She got a closer look at him, and was surprised by the jagged, thick scar that cut down his cheek. Other than that, he was tall and quite handsome with dark, brown hair that was longer than most men and laughing brown eyes to match. "Thank you." She told him in English, her accent thick even to her own ears. She hadn't spoken the language in a while, since the last time she had seen her father, actually, but he had passed away only a few short years after her mother.

"Jack!" A voice called out, causing them both to turn to watch a stocky, Italian jog over to them, "Ya supposed ta be loading the carriages, not flirtin' with the ballerinas." The man reprimanded, wearing the same uniform of Navy and white that Jack was wearing.

Jack smirked, "I was gonna load her trunk, Race, I just had ta recue it from some griftah."

"Hurry it up." The man groused, "Befoah someone sees ya and tells David."

"Yessir." Jack replied, his voice sarcastic again as he gave Nina a slight bow and went to load her trunk.

She smiled at the exchange, "Why would it be bad if this David knows he's here?" She asked him, curiously.

The man's fingers twitched, realizing she had heard the entire exchange and he looked half embarrassed, "We needed some extra workers so I asked Jack there. Except he's the only person whose pictuah hangs in the hotel for everyone to see he's banned from evah stepping foot in it."

Nina realized these men were sent from the Benjamin hotel, the most luxurious hotel in New York, owned and operated by the youngest hotelier ever. She had read a pamphlet on the ship about the hotel, how it had opened just six years ago but had become the main staying place of the rich and elite, how it was slowly being expanded, and the fact that it was the only hotel in New York at the moment who allowed female guests to stay in rooms alone-which was all but unheard anywhere else.

"Oh." She murmured, "Well, thank him again, for retrieving my trunk."

Race nodded, his focus turning on someone else from the company who had just gotten off the ship. Nina looked towards the carriage to watch Jack haul another trunk on a carriage before helping a dancer into it and clapping the horse to send it off to its destination.

"Nina! Over here!" Natalia called out to her, waving her over to a carriage she was just getting into.

"Coming!" She called out, hurrying towards the carriage and as it started away, she looked once more for Jack. She didn't see him as the crowds thickened and she found herself wondering what he had done to the owner of the Benjamin to get permanently and publicly banned from the hotel. She wondered if she'd ever get the chance to find out.

 **A/N: Yay! You guys finally get to meet our heroine, Nina! She's loosely based off of the first international Ballerina Anna Pavlova. I tried to keep things historically accurate, but every now and then I gotta twist history to fit my story haha. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I have the next one started and not a lot planned this weekend so hopefully the next update won't be too far away! Thank you to my wonderful reviewers last chapter! Two guests and my usual lovey dovey's Pixielou (who's been an awesome coach and source of inspiration through the planning of this story!) and coveredinbees14!**

 **Please review!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	3. Chapter 3

_March 18_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Dearest daughter,_

 _I reminisced this morning of the first time I took you to the ballet when you were only eight years old. If I remember correctly, it was in March…Spring is slow to come to the estate, but I've always loved winter, so a little more time spent with the pristine snow is fine by me._

 _Listen to me talk of weather as though we are strangers. But, after three months of your absence, I fear that may be how we'll always be. I miss your laughter, your smile. Your blue eyes…I suppose the secret will begin to spill from me as I get weaker and am forced to stay in bed more. Already, I find stairs troublesome. I've taken to living in the upper level so I'm never too far from the bed if I get tired._

 _Enough melancholy. Your father purchased a horse a week ago. He's outside now, in the snow, attempting to break it. It was maltreated before he saved it. Such a kind man, one cannot help to love him. Sometimes, I believe I am not worthy to hold his heart. I cherish it, anyway._

 _I will write you again, soon. If your silence helps you get over your anger with me, I understand. I will write you, anyway._

 _I love you always,_

 _Mama_

* * *

"I can't believe my luck." Blink's voice brought David out of the paperwork he'd been working on and he looked up from his desk to see the blonde man lean heavily against the doorframe to his office. David just stared, waiting for Blink to continue his whining. Blink sighed, tossing his hands up at David's lack of a reaction, "Just as I find the woman of my dreams, we get the mothahload of foreign Ballerinas. _Ballerinas_ , David."

David grunted, before looking to his right at the picture that hung on the wall, "Cheaters never win, Blink."

Blink followed his gaze to the picture of the newsboys from the strike of 1899. Jack's face was circled so he stood out. On one of Race's night shifts after he'd gone to Chicago, he'd come in here and added a bit of scruff to the face and a line for his scar to, as Race had put it, 'update' Jack's mugshot. Below the newspaper clipping were the words, big and bold, 'NOT ALLOWED ON HOTEL GROUNDS'.

"Well, I nevah said I would cheat on Katy. I'm just sayin' it's really bad luck foah me that the Russian Ballet didn't come inta town _befoah_ I fought a gang for her." Blink sniffed as if David had offended him, and he left.

For a split second, then he popped his head back in, "Oh, and the Ballerina's are startin' to arrive."

David scowled, "You couldn't have led with that?" He asked him, surly, standing and getting his papers in order. He had been preparing for this for two months now and he needed everything to go down by the numbers.

Blink just laughed and headed back to the front desk. David glared after him, grabbing his coat from around his chair and buttoning it up hurriedly. They had to check in close to fifty people so they had to begin as soon as they started walking through that front door. Blink's moment to complain had already eaten up time better spent on the hotel.

Sighing, David walked down the hall to the new front desk. It had once been a tall, oak desk with no more room behind it then for one person to run it. With the expansions he'd been making, and the deal with the Imperial Russian Ballet, he had gotten it in his head to have a bigger desk built. Now, it stretched almost the entire length of the lobby, with five stations so that at the busiest time of the year they could check in numerous guest.

The holidays were always the busiest, and with the Ballet being in town, it was sure to be even busier. The original deal had been for them to stay just two months, but with the holidays and the many people in New York for it, they had extended the trip to go until after the New Year.

It didn't affect his timetables for the expansion, for that he was grateful. Come the first sign of Spring, the demolition of the block of buildings to the right of the Ben were already scheduled to be made rubble. The drawings from the architecture were approved, the men hired for the job, and the designs of the interior of each room was done. All David had to do was wait.

Which was harder than he expected. With everything set up, he had nothing to work on, no puzzles to solve, and the daily running of the hotel could be left up to his managers and staff. It was much too tedious for him, anyway.

 _And so was this,_ he thought acidly, taking his spot at the front desk and stifling a glower at the mass of people in his lobby, standing around and ignoring the velvet roped off line for check ins. He almost blanched as a girl stepped right up, ignoring the line completely that she had just cut, "Do we check in here?" She asked, Russian accent heavy, her grey eyes looking up at him imploringly as she swept away a strand of blonde hair.

"The line for check in is there, m'am." He told her, not quite politely, as he waved at the queue of people.

She giggled, "Oh, apologize! Thank you." She smiled at him sweetly, and swept away back to her friend.

David shook his head ever so slightly, hoping that any of the other guys working the front desk got to check her in. He couldn't abide women who played stupid.

Once he got in the swing of checking people in, though, things began to move smoothly. The lines diminishing faster than he had hoped until, with great dread, he noticed the girl and her friend up next. Mush, Blink, and Greg were all still waiting on guests so he found himself calling out, with great reluctance, "Next."

The blonde, bubbly and all smiles, came forward. Her friend, an attractive brunette with a bored expression and a good six to seven inches taller than the short blonde following just behind. Her gaze, however, was caught on someone who came in through the front door. David found himself following it to see Racetrack, who'd just entered the hotel.

"Name?" David asked, his tone less than enthusiastic.

The blonde was eyeing up Blink, who was next to David, joking with a man as he handed him the keys to his room. "Natalia Malakhov."

"Heya, Race!" Blink called over her head as his guest left and David realized there was no one left in the lobby but the two women he was checking in. "How'd carriage duty go?"

One of the Benjamin hotel workers came in right after Racetrack, a new guy by the name of Jake Miller that David had just hired. David was pleased with it because Jake was known for his loyalty and eagerness to be of use to the hotel.

"Haven't been around so much horse manure since I stopped goin' to the track." Race told Blink, coming around the front desk and nudging Blink's shoulder.

"Whew. Haven't smelled like it in a while, either." Blink replied, laughing.

David tried to ignore their unprofessionalism as he focused on the brunette, "Name?"

"Nina Teleshova." She answered him, her voice deeper than the blonde's and just a tad sultry.

He tried not to look surprised and intrigued as he scrawled her name in the guest check in sheet. The contents of her file coming to mind immediately, _'Born February 12_ _th_ _, 1883. Prima Ballerina, both parents deceased, only living relative an Uncle on her father's side. Has a history of lunatic fans following her and/or sending her mail. Has a great love for the ballet and has worked harder than any other ballerina to get where she is. Fluent in Russian, French, and English.'_ It had gone on into great depth about her history with the Imperial Russian Ballet Company. For some inexplicable reason, David had found himself drawn to her file more than any of the others.

The file did not contain what kind of person she was. Or that she was incredibly beautiful and taller than the other ballerinas. He found himself stealing a few more quick glances of her as he went to the wall of keys and selected their room.

"Mr. Jacobs, can I talk to you?" Jake asked, casting a glance towards Race, who all but glowered at the newer employee.

"Meet me in my office in a minute." David told him, offhandedly.

"How about I tawk ta Davey?" Race asked Jake, "And you mind ya own business?"

David hid his surprise at the hostility and cast a look at the women. Natalia was flirting with Blink as Nina flipped through a brochure that had been on the counter but he got the impression she was listening intently to their conversation. "Both of you meet me in the office." He told them, sternly, slightly annoyed as he added rather bitingly, "Do not make a scene in front of our guests."

Jake looked contrite as he left the front desk and Race followed looking less than happy.

Nina met David's eyes as he held out her room key, "I know it's none of my business, sir…" She began.

Something about her, something he couldn't yet pinpoint, made him rude and aggressive, "You're right, ma'am. It's none of your business." That was not how he usually handled people, he was in the hospitality business after all. But, her deep, blue eyes were too perceptive, too lively. Too everything he didn't need to be confronted with at this moment.

Surprise flitted across her face followed swiftly by fury, "You're right. But, if it wasn't for Jack, I'd have lost all of my personal effects. Deeply personal items that cannot be replaced."

At the name of his former best friend, David felt his jaw clench and he couldn't contain the thunderous look that he knew was on his face, "Enjoy your stay here at the Benjamin." He somehow clipped out, before turning on his heel and heading back to the office as Race and Jake's behavior clicked into place in his mind.

He closed the door behind him, Race and Jake's whispered argument halting at the ominous sound. Both looked at David, who tried to contain the rage that had flooded through him.

"Dave-" Race began, standing up.

David shook his head, "No, Race."

"But, Dave-"

"No." David said again, this time glaring at the former newsie as he crossed the room and went around them to stand at his desk, "I don't want to hear your excuses."

"Mr. Jacobs, may I just say one thing?" Jake asked, looking nervous after the way David had shut down Race.

"Go ahead, Jake."

Race looked insulted that David allowed the new guy to say something, but David ignored him and turned his attention to Jake as he started to speak, "I know, sir, that there's some bad history between you and this…this Jack. But, uh, if Race hadn't brought him today, we would have been short staffed and he did reclaim a trunk that would have been stolen as well as saved me from almost getting crushed by a carriage. You see, I overloaded it and it would have toppled over onto me but he managed to pull a piece of luggage off and stabilize it before…uh, before that happened."

"Thank you, Jake. For your honesty and assessment of the situation. You may leave." David told the younger man, his tone just a bit icy, but he found most of his anger diminished from the man's story.

Jake nodded and left, Race watching him with an inscrutable look.

"You'll have to apologize to him later." David said, his perceptive gaze on Race.

Race ran a hand over his mouth and sat down in the chair across from David's desk, "Yeah. I thought he was just some brown noser…but that one's got potential."

David felt the corner of his mouth quirk up with just the touch of a smile, "I only hire people with potential."

The Italian's snort brought the rest of the smile out, especially as he followed it with, "But, what about Blink?"

They both laughed lightly. When the laughter stopped, David found himself sighing, "I don't like at all what you did, Race. If you thought we needed more staff there, you should have told me and I'd have sent more." He didn't like the thought of Jack working in one of his uniforms, in helping his guests, and he especially didn't like that fact that he was now indebted to a man he despised. He ignored the part of him that got riled up at the thought of Jack conversing with the pretty Prima Ballerina he had only just met, either.

Race sighed, bringing David from his thoughts as he said, "I was only tryin' ta help."

David knew Race's heart was in the right place, that they had been understaffed lately. Mrs. Barnes, the head housekeeper was off on what they referred to as maternity leave after giving birth to her second child. Gareth, one of the main hotel managers who took complaints and repair requests, had to leave on short notice to take care of his sick mother who lived in New Jersey. Those two pillars of the hotel being gone during the week the Russian Ballet came to town was bad luck that David hadn't foreseen. "I know, Race. Go on home, I'll see you later."

The former gambler nodded, giving David a half smile as he got up, leaving the young hotelier to decide on how to best deal with the Jack problem.

 **A/N: Happy belated Labor day to my US readers! It always makes me think of Newsies! :) I tried to get this finished yesterday and it wouldn't end right so I slept on it. Thank yous as always to my lovely reviewer Pixielou and my Guest reviewer!**

 **Please review and tell me how you liked David and Nina's first meeting!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	4. Chapter 4

_April 12_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Dear Nina,_

 _Did I tell you of the year I spent in France when I was sixteen? My parents wanted me to travel a bit, so they sent me to my aunt who lived in Paris and told me to behave myself. I didn't, of course. I met your father there._

 _I also met a beautiful lady by the name of Carmen Fuentes. We wrote to each other for many years, until her untimely death. Six years ago today. I miss her dearly. She was the liveliest woman, all laughter and modesty. She was born to a wealthy Spanish family who vacationed in Paris in the summer and she and I became fast friends that summer. She loved your father's best friend…he was from London, in Paris studying architecture and his name was Charles Rennalls._

 _I haven't written or said that name aloud in almost seventeen years…_

 _The simple task of writing to you has made me tired. I will write to you again, soon. I love you, my solnishko. Keep dancing._

 _Love Always,_

 _Mama_

* * *

"You _would_ be attracted to the rudest man in the room. It's a gift of yours." Natalia told Nina as they stepped onto the elevator to go up to their suite. Natalia told the bellhop what floor and then turned back to look knowingly at Nina. She was, of course, talking about David. As soon as the two friends had stepped into the grand lobby of the Benjamin Hotel and were blessed by the sight of three out of four front desk men being young and attractive, they had promptly picked their favorites.

It was a running game they played, usually at after parties. They'd circle the room, come back to each other, and tell them which man was off limits to the other one. They rarely picked the same man. Natalia's taste ran more towards blonde and rich. Which was why she had gone straight for the only blonde at the counter, who's nametag declared him as Thomas. Nina, however, was great for finding the tallest man who usually also happened to be an asshole.

 _Two out of two for David_ , Nina thought to herself as she replied to Natalia, "He looked like he'd be different from my usual asshole." And he had. At least at first. While the other brunette man was cute, his name tag crooked on his coat and reading the name Alex, he couldn't possibly have held a candle to the tall, brooding man that was David Jacobs. The owner of the hotel. The youngest hotelier ever. He had been striking, with his dark hair and blue eyes, and formidable, as he had scowled down at Natalia when she asked where to check in.

A flash of those wintry blue eyes appeared in her mind, how they had seemed to thaw just a little bit when she had told him her name and he had looked at her fully for the first time. There had been a startling glimpse of interest, of heat, of a connection that could lead…She groaned, telling Natalia, "Keep me away from him for the remainder of this tour."

"He's all but a hermit, I hear. I don't think you'll be seeing much of him." Natalia replied, and then her mouth fell open as the door to their suite opened and they took in the initial opulence of the room.

"I'm no stranger to nice things," Natalia murmured, gazing around in awe as they walked around the hotel room, "but, _damn_. This is one classy place."

A knock at the door a few minutes later brought Nina out of one of the bedrooms and she opened it up as their luggage was wheeled in by a familiar face from the front desk, "Thank you, Alex." She told him in English, smiling in gratitude as he pulled her luggage off first. Natalia was shrieking from the bathroom, something about a flush toilet, and Nina found herself giving Alex a sheepish grin.

"Ya welcome, Miss. Which room did you want this in?" He asked her, smiling brightly and ignoring Natalia's other exclamations. He had an easy-going air about him that immediately relaxed those around him.

"You really shouldn't have a strange man in your room, Nina." The Russian words stopped her before she could answer and they both looked to see Sergei in the doorway, leaning casually against the frame. He was tall and muscular from his years of ballet, but his attitude left something lacking in his otherwise good looks. His hair was an ash brown, his eyes a light green, and he appeared every bit the epitome of a Russian Male.

Nina despised him. She scowled at her ballet partner, "He works for the hotel. But, I'd trust him over _you_ any day." She told him in Russian so Alex wouldn't understand, then ignored Sergei to speak to Alex in English, "The room on the right." Alex cast a look between the two, his gaze less friendly when he looked at Sergei, but said nothing as he carried her trunk to her room. She turned back to the insufferable man and waved a hand at him, "Please leave." She didn't bother speaking in Russian this time.

Sergei was not the type of man who enjoyed being waved away and he straightened and gave her a dark look, "One of these days, Nina, you will learn to respect me."

Quirking an eyebrow, she replied haughtily, "That'll be a cold day in hell."

Glaring, he turned and left without another word and Alex came out of her room, looking towards the front door with his eyes narrowed, "Miss, if you have any problems, don't hesitate to let any of the hotel staff know. Hotel policy is that ouah guests should always feel safe." He said it politely, as if it were something every person on staff had been trained to say, but she knew it was directly pointed towards Sergei.

Smiling gently, she nodded, "Thank you. That's good to know."

Natalia stepped out of her room and smiled as she took in Alex picking up her luggage from the cart, "You can just put that right in here." She said, waving towards her room to the left. Alex nodded and hefted her larger, much heavier suitcase, his muscles bulging even through his suit jacket, and Natalia and Nina shared a look of appreciation as he carried it to her room.

Grinning, her blonde best friend wagged her eyebrows, "Hellloooo, Alex." She murmured to Nina.

Nina rolled her eyes, "He's not blonde." She pointed out. Although, he was tall. Maybe she should have chosen him over David.

"With muscles like those, who needs blonde hair?" Natalia waved it away, and then put on her most flirtatious smile as he exited her room and grabbed the luggage cart.

"Anything else I can do foah ya ladies?" He asked, all politeness.

Natalia smiled and slid a hand along his arm, "Know of any great restaurants, Alex?" She all but purred, and Nina sighed at her friends' insatiable hunger. For both men and food. Natalia was any other Ballerina's worst nightmare, the way she could put away food and still be the tiny, graceful dancer that she was.

Alex looked a tad uncomfortable when her hand stopped at his elbow and didn't move. "Uh, my wife says the hotel restaurant has the best chocolate mousse she's ever tasted. And she makes chocolate foah a livin'."

Unfazed by the drop of information that he was married, Natalia smiled unabashedly at him, "It's a shame I never liked chocolate mousse." She dropped her hand from his arm and sauntered away to her room, no longer interested in him.

Nina couldn't stop the chuckle, "I apologize for her."

He flashed a smile as he opened the door and maneuvered the luggage cart through it, pausing in the hallway to reply "It's awright, miss. But, I meant what I said earlier about feelin' safe. David makes it a top priority, if you have any troubles just let any of us know. He'd probably handle it personally."

The ballerina felt a wry grin pull up the corners of her mouth, "Probably not for me, seems I rub Mr. Jacobs the wrong way." She answered him before she could stop herself and then she gently closed the door so he didn't ask her about it.

Sighing, she moved towards her room and began to unpack her clothes from the trunk he had placed on the settee at the end of the bed. She let the inane task soothe her thoughts from the journey, Jack, Race, David, Alex, and this strange new world she had stumbled into.

The very last thing she unpacked was a wooden, rectangular lacquer box, and she lovingly brushed her fingers across the smooth image on top. Though it was a bit aged, it had been her mothers, it was a typical Russian lacquer box that portrayed a scene from a Russian fairytale. Her box depicted the scene from the fairytale 'Tsarevich Ivan, the Firebird, and the Gray Wolf' where Ivan Tsarevich rode on the back of the gray wolf, Helen the Beautiful clasped in his arms. Though she loved the fairytale, it was the contents inside that were more precious to her than all the gold in the world.

Opening it up, she gently picked up the bundle of twelve unopened letters. Nina found herself, like always, turning it over in her hands, hefting the weight of them, and wondering at the last words her mother had ever written to her.

A years' worth of letters, written in the last year of her mother's life. Unread.

Guilt, sorrow, and despair clawed at her heart and she quickly replaced the letters and shut the box. _Not yet_ , she told herself. She wasn't ready to face the words, yet. Wasn't ready to watch her mother's health decline through the writing, wasn't ready to read that familiar handwriting and miss her mother even more than she already did.

She wasn't ready to read her mother's forgiveness of her childish behavior, because she could not forgive herself for it. What had she been thinking, ignoring those letters? Until the thirteenth one came, written in her father's handwriting. She had opened that one immediately, because as much as she loved her father, he wasn't the biggest on communication.

Except it had been the heartbreaking news that her mother had died. The pain had been too fresh then, to go back and read them. Now, she had waited this long and it still felt like too much to handle. One time, a year ago on the anniversary of her mother's death, she had thought about reading it one letter at a time, one letter a month, but the moment she had begun to open the first letter she felt a wave of… _wrongness_.

She had avoided the box since then, but being in America, a place of freedom and hope, brought back all the stories her mother had told her of this country and she felt as though maybe, given some time here, she could finally open them.

Just not today.

* * *

Due to the fact that they only had two weeks to practice till opening night, the company did not get a break to enjoy the new city. First thing the next morning, all of the dancers had to be at the theater, in costume, practicing. Their first show, _Les million d'Arlequin_ , was set to open on Halloween and would run until Thanksgiving. The lack of time made for a long, rigorous practice that left them exhausted and all but dragging their bruised, bleeding feet back to the hotel around dinner time. Natalia asked the front desk to send room service up, but Nina didn't feel like spending her free time in the room.

"I'm going down to eat. At least it will get me out of the room." She informed her friend as she opened the for the waiter with the cart full of food.

"Bring me some chocolate mousse." Natalia called, coming out of her room looking clean and refreshed.

Nina couldn't prevent the snort, "I thought you never liked chocolate mousse?"

Natalia grinned as she braided her wet hair, "Oh, please, who doesn't like chocolate mousse? I just said that to let him know I wasn't interested. Plus, I put my room service in with him and I couldn't very well let him know I actually like it."

Nina rolled her eyes, "You only weren't interested _after_ he told you he was married."

"Tomato, to-mah-to." Natalia replied, waving her hand dismissively, "Bring me that damn chocolate mousse."

Laughing, Nina left the room. She had seen maps of New York City in the lobby and she had a nice plan in her mind of mapping out everywhere she wanted to visit while stuffing her face with delicious food.

It was a quiet, Monday night so the restaurant was all but empty. Nina asked for a table out of the way, and the host showed her to a small table for two that was in the corner of the restaurant and slightly hidden by a support pillar. Thanking the young man, she took the seat that put her back to the wall and gave her a good look at any guests that might come in and opened the menu up.

Her waiter slunk out of a door on the other side of the restaurant and Nina got a glimpse of the kitchens for a split second before they were gone. He didn't hurry over, more meandered than walked, and when he stopped in front of her he pulled out a tablet form his apron and a fountain pen from behind his ear, "Evenin', miss. My name is Skit-" he paused a split second, then continued, "Albert. I'll be ya waitah tonight. What can I get foah ya?" He had the same rough accent that Jack, Alex, and Race had and even though he didn't seem exactly thrilled to be there, she felt a tiny bit at ease.

After ordering, she handed him her menu and he strolled leisurely away. She noticed the back of his shirt was untucked and his hair was matted in the back like he had slept on it all night. A grin fought its way to her lips as she thought about David in his perfectly pressed uniform, his hair brushed and looking completely put together. Since she had a front row seat to it just a day ago, she could picture just how angry he would be if he saw his wait staff tonight.

That brought a chuckle out of her and she unfolded the map of New York on her table and began to look it over, using a fountain pen she had taken from her hotel room to mark where she was, the theater, and then all the places she wanted to go.

Talking, laughter, and what sounded like a herd of people brought her from her map and she looked up to see a group of people come in and sit down at a table without being seated. She was surprised to recognize Race and Alex, but the four women and one man with them were strangers to her. She watched curiously as Race pulled out a chair for a pretty, petite red-haired woman as Alex did the same for a blonde woman who looked to be pregnant, presumably the wife he spoke of.

The other couple consisted of another blonde woman and a man with the swarthy skin tone of a Spaniard. The last woman, a tall brunette, headed towards the kitchens instead of sitting down.

Race was talking as they sat down, something along the lines of a man named Scott and a lady he insulted, "…she dumped her drink right in his lap!" Everyone laughed, clearly aware of who Scott was and amused by the tale.

Nina felt a stab of something like envy, wishing she had a group of close friends. Natalia was the only real friend she had because she was the only one Nina could trust not to stab her in the back. The rest of the girls were climbers that would do just about anything short of murder to be Prima and, unfortunately, Nina was the one in their way, leaving very little room for the growth of friendship.

Her waiter, Skit-Albert, came out with her food and she watched as he once again weaved around the tables with all the speed and purpose of a tortoise. She bit back a smile as he finally set her food down and asked, in a bored tone, "Is there anything else, miss?"

"I'm going to need a box of chocolate mousse to take up to my room, otherwise no. Thank you." She smiled brightly at him and was pleased when he couldn't suppress an answering grin.

"I'll bring that out with ya check, miss. Enjoy." He said, and then strolled away to greet the newcomers.

She all but groaned in pleasure when she bit into the chicken marsala she had ordered. She had been surprised to see it on the menu since everyone knew Chef Bernard was a world renown French chef. David must have gone to great lengths to secure him here at his hotel, and it was partly because of him that so many people came to the Benjamin.

While enjoying her food, she watched the group of friends. Evidently, her waiter was familiar with them and he chatted with Race and Alex with much more energy than she had previously seen. The other man who had been working, the blonde that Natalia had been flirting with when they checked in, came out of the door of the kitchens, holding hands with the brunette from earlier and gazing at her as if she were center of his universe. Nina let out a wistful sigh at the sight, her hunger diminishing as she realized just how lonely she was. How pathetic.

Taking her gaze from the friends, she looked down at the map of New York and thought of how much more exciting it would be to share it with someone special.

"Skittery." The irritated voice pushed through her thoughts and she raised her head to see David entering the restaurant, his uniform jacket unbuttoned for once, his tie loosened.

Skittery, the waiter she guessed from the way he jumped at his name, nodded towards David, "How's it rollin', Dave?" He asked, and she watched as Race shook his head at Skittery.

"Can I talk to you?" David asked, nodding his head to a private corner.

The corner Nina sat in. She shrank in her seat as the two moved a little closer to her, but not near enough to notice. She didn't miss the way Race handed money to the red-head, as if they had a bet on something, but she was then distracted by David as he pulled a hairbrush out of his back pocket and then took off his suspenders as he reprimanded Skittery, "I know you're new here and all, but this isn't Emilio's. I'm gonna need you to come in looking halfway decent. Tuck your shirt in and brush your hair."

Skittery sighed as he began tucking in the shirt, "Ya think all these people are gonna care how I look?" He asked, sarcastically as he motioned to the dead restaurant.

"I care how you look." David said, handing him the brush, "And it's going to be real embarrassing for you if I have to dress you every time you come in here." He added as he moved around to clip the suspenders on the back of Skittery's pants and tossed the two straps over his shoulders.

"Hey, hey, I got it, I got it." Skittery muttered, swatting David away and glancing towards Nina. She grinned when he caught her watching and turned bright red, "I'll get cleaned up in the kitchen." He added, walking away, suspenders hanging down near his legs as David watched his departure for a second looking half irritated and half amused.

As though he felt her eyes on him, he turned his head and met her gaze, a surprised look on his face. They maintain eye contact for a split second before she turned back to her map and took a sip of her water.

She almost choked on it when he came over, "Are you enjoying your meal?" He asked her, looking just the slightest bit nervous.

"Yes, it's excellent. Thank you." She told him, voice a tad colder than she really meant it to be.

"Good." He stepped away, then paused, "Look, I'm…I'm sorry for how rude I was to you yesterday. I wasn't angry at you."

Nina nodded, thought a moment, and then replied, "After some reflection, I realized that. I accept your apology, and I'm sorry for getting into your business."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but thought better of it, "Have a good evening." He murmured and left before she could respond. She pushed her food around on her plate for a few minutes and then sighed. David Jacobs had apologized, which was a point in his favor in her book because it was more than what the previous assholes had done.

Laughter from that table brought her eyes back up and she looked around at the interesting group of people. They all looked relax and happy, chatting excitedly and dancing from topic to topic. David even looked happy as he took a sip of his drink and half grinned at a story the blonde, pregnant woman was telling.

As she was folding her map up, Skittery came back out looking more put together and he took their orders before coming over to her with her box of chocolate mousse and a message, "David said your meal's on the house." He informed her, and she thanked him.

David was watching them and she gave him a half wave and a nod in thanks, before standing up and collecting her map, box, and her sweater that she had hung on the back of her chair. She felt slightly self-conscious as she walked passed the table, but no one paid her any attention and she let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey!" A voice behind her startled her, and she turned to see the tall, Spanish man coming out of the restaurant, her map of the city in his hands, "You dropped this."

"Oh, thank you." She told him, taking it from him and meeting his eyes, which were blue instead of the expectant brown. She paused, catching something familiar in his face but unable to name what it was, "You have one of those faces." She told him, unthinkingly.

He cocked his head, eyes astute as he took her in, "One of those faces?" He asked.

"Yes. That's vaguely familiar, but you know you've never met them before." Nina felt silly the moment the words were out of her mouth but his expression was one of interest.

He flashed a smile that was equal parts congenial and dangerous, his teeth even and white, "I know exactly what you mean. Nina Teleshova, right?"

"Yes, how did you know?" She asked, surprised someone would recognize her before the opening night.

"It's my job to know these things." He told her smoothly, "It was wonderful to meet you." He gave her a slight, gentlemanly bow before going back towards the restaurant.

"You, too." She called back, then added under her breath, "I think."

 **A/N: Me oh my, guys. Couldn't quite stop writing this particular chapter. It's like Nina poured out of me. She's very vocal when she wants to be. I'm super excited, though. I hope you all enjoy my lengthy chapter! Thank you to my Guest reviewer, whoever you may be ;) and to the lovely Pixielou who lets me rant to her on facebook about my characters! :D Please drop me a review if you have the time!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	5. Chapter 5

_May 4_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Dear Nina,_

 _Your Uncle Gideon was visiting yesterday. That man has never liked me, which is just as well because he always gave me a bad feeling in my gut. I know when you were little, you used to adore him. But, lately, it feels as though he's turned…sour. I think he has a gambling problem, but Gabriel knows my dislike of his brother and he will not discuss him with me. It is the one problem we have fought over and over again in our marriage._

 _I think…Sometime I feel as though Gideon knows my secret. But, the thought of your father betraying me like that...oh, but my darling, you do not need to worry about these things. Have fun, keep dancing, make friends. Perhaps, I'm being paranoid because of my illness. He brought you a gift, I shall send it forward with my letter. Maybe then you'll write back?_

 _Love always,_

 _Mama_

* * *

David saw Nina three times from afar that week after seeing her in the restaurant at Monday night dinner, a weekly tradition that the guys had cooked up not too long after Blink and Katherine got together. They had Sunday dinners at Race and Clara's house, but David didn't often attend that one because Jack was always there with his daughter; the constant reminder, no matter how cute, that he had cheated on Sarah.

Which, to this day, could still make David's blood run cold with fury. As he saw it, Jack had been warmly accepted into his family with open arms and his parents had all but considered him a third son. There had been hopes of a marriage proposal, to make him officially part of the family.

Until the day David had come home from an overnight shift at the Chelsea hotel to find Sarah sobbing in their mother's arms. He had felt guilty about not seeing or hearing about Jack's affair before she found out, but he had thrown himself into his work after watching the love of his life die in his arms not quite two weeks before. His selfishness had caused his sister pain.

Without thinking, with almost no sleep, he'd left the apartment to go to Jack's selling spot and the resulting fight had been the death of their friendship. 'The secret to surviving was knowing what to throw away, and knowing what to keep.' It was one wisdom Walty, his hotel mentor, had told David that had stuck out more than most of the other tidbits of knowledge.

So, David had thrown away Jack from his life just as the Cowboy had thrown Sarah away.

But, now he had to set that stuff aside for an evening. Sighing, he raised his hand and banged the brass door knocker. He didn't bother to paste a fake smile on his face, just let it settle into a look of resignation as Clara opened the door and beamed up at him, "David! I wasn't expecting you."

"I told Race I'd be here." He said, eyebrows furrowing. He had sworn he had told Race.

"Oh, hey, Clara!" Race's voice came from inside the house, "David's comin' tahnight."

The red-haired woman rolled her eyes good-naturedly and pulled the door wider for David to enter. He couldn't help but give her a small smile. He always liked Clara, any woman who would put up with Racetrack was a saint in his opinion.

"Everyone's in the sitting room. Dinner should be ready soon." She told him, leading him to the parlor.

David entered behind her and took swift account of all the people. Blink and Katherine sat on a loveseat, Blink's arm draped casually around her shoulders. Vivian sat in an arm chair by the fire with Mush sitting on the arm rest beside her, his hand on her stomach. Clara's father was in the armchair across from Vivian, Race standing beside him. Jack, Hazel, and Wesley were sitting on the floor playing with a box of what looked like logs that were stackable. Diana, Mrs. Renwick, and Sophie were all seated on a couch, talking, while Scott and Carlos stood off to the side, glasses of scotch in their hands. Mrs. Mclean sat on the window seat where Clara joined her.

"Hey, Davey." Mush called out, "Who's watchin' the hotel if everyone's here?" He joked, his brown eyes crinkling around the edges.

David moved to stand near Scott and Carlos, "Greg's there. Sunday nights are usually quiet, anyway."

"Quiet even with a host of ballerinas?" Vivian inquired, smiling up at Mush. Sometimes those two made David feel a little nauseous, but Scott handed him a scotch and he took a nice gulp of it to stave away the queasiness.

Glancing down at his glass, he felt a smirk pull up the edge of his mouth as he thought about last week, "Yeah. Now that Blink's taken, I haven't had to worry about any shenanigans…except his complaining."

Katherine cut a narrowed gaze towards Blink, "Complaining about what?"

He lifted his arm from around her shoulder to put both hands up in pose of surrender, "I'm only complaining because none of them are as beautiful to look at as you." His poor lie caused everyone save Katherine to laughed as she stood and moved to the window seat to sit beside Clara and Nancy. "Babe." Blink called after her, "I was just jokin'." He shot a look at David, "Thanks, Dave. Ya a real friend." He told him sarcastically.

"In his defense, he was only complaining that it was bad luck for them to come after he fought a gang for you." David added.

Katherine shot another glare at Blink who sighed, "That's not really helping." The blonde man told David, exasperated, but he turned to blow a kiss towards Katherine who waved it away, but couldn't hide the small smile around the edges of her mouth. Blink winked at her and she turned her head away to hide a bigger grin.

David took another sip of his scotch to hide his own smile. It was too easy to tease that couple and they had a good relationship, so he wasn't worried that what he said would hurt it. They were almost as easy to tease as Clara and Race, who were forever knocking jokes back and forth at each other, which was something David liked about Clara. She gave as good as she got.

Which was one thing that David hadn't realized had been missing from his relationship with Minny. Anytime he teased her, she took it too much to heart, leaving him feeling guilty and apologizing.

Thinking about that made him feel guilty even now, eight years later. He shouldn't be comparing his past relationship with Minny with what Race and Clara had, it wasn't fair to a dead girl. He winced at thinking of her as a 'dead girl' and knocked back the rest of his scotch, tuning into the current conversation to ignore the direction his thoughts were going.

"…were thinking we could all go to opening night." Mrs. Renwick was saying.

"We should just get a box in that case." Scott added, "Our group would take up an entire section."

"Oh, daddy, can we please go see the ballerinas?" Hazel asked, excitedly as she looked at Jack with a hero-worshipping gaze.

"Whatevah you want, kid." Jack said, mussing her hair and beaming down at her with a proud gaze.

David ignored the pinch of jealousy, surprised he could feel anything resembling envy when it came to Jack. He worked in a factory, barely afforded his apartment, and had the trouble of raising a little girl. What about that was enviable? But, that little girl adored him and David realized the chances of him ever having a family of his own had grown very slim since Minny had died. He just couldn't imagine a future where he found himself falling in love with someone else, and he wouldn't marry for the sake of convenience.

Turning his head away, he caught Carlos watching him with a keen hawk's gaze. As much as they had been working together to gather all the information on the current guests of his hotel, they still circled each other warily. Carlos was a giant question mark to David, enigmantic and mysterious with a sordid past that no one ever talked about. He thought, perhaps, that Carlos saw him in a similar manner.

"Carlos, I wanted to ask you something." David said, keeping his voice low. Scott raised an eyebrow when they both turned blue eyes on him and he shrugged as he moved away from them, closer to his father, Mush, and Vivian.

Turning back to David, Carlos raised one dark eyebrow in inquiry, and sipped his scotch in silence as he waited for David to continue.

Glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention, he dropped his voice lower and leaned casually against the wall, "I was wondering if, instead of finding someone for me, just keep a watch on a particular person. Gather any more information than what's in their file and give me weekly updates."

"Depends. Who would I be stalking?" Carlos asked, his eyes lighting on Sophie for a second, softening when she felt his gaze and passed him a soft smile.

Hesitating, David took a light breath and released it, "Nina Teleshova."

An interest David didn't like alighted in the Spaniard's blue eyes, "The Prima Ballerina?"

"Yes."

Carlos tilted his head slightly to the side, narrowing his gaze on David, "Why?"

Bristling slightly, David straightened, "Do you want the job or not? I can find someone else who will do it without questioning me." His voice was sharp even to his own ears.

"Not anyone who would be as good as me." Carlos told him, not arrogantly but in a matter-of-fact kind of way. "But, I'll do it."

"Starting tomorrow." David added, trying not to let him see how relieved he was. He didn't know how to explain how the woman rubbed him the wrong way, how she made his stomach tighten when he saw her, or the way her laughter stole his breath. There was something there that set him on edge and he wanted to know what it was. He _had_ to know everything about her in order to decide why it was that he kept thinking about her.

"Tomorrow, then." Carlos shot him a quick grin before moving away to stand behind Sophie.

"Ya mean, no one's evah noticed?" Race was saying, looking around at everyone who just stared at him. "C'mon. Katherine's got the dark hair and eyes, Vivian's got the blonde hair and blue eyes. They'se chose women that looked like their best friend. It's a bit creepy."

Scott snorted a bit of scotch at Race's observation and everyone laughed as they looked between Vivan and Mush and Blink and Katherine.

"Hey, I feel honoured Mush found a lady that looks like me. He has good taste." Blink defended.

"That was not your feelings when you first met me." Vivian replied, raising an eyebrow. "As I recall, you purposely interrupted our first kiss, and rode home with us in the carriage. I'm surprised you didn't follow us up to our rooms."

"Well, I mean I thought about it…but, Mush had really bad taste befoah ya, Viv."

Clara was laughing as she said, "So did Katherine, before Blink."

"Same thing can be said for you, Clara." Katherine quipped back and everyone laughed.

Clara stood to cross towards Race, "Yes, but now I have _mio Polpetto_." She rubbed her nose against Race's and his face heated up.

"Clara, I told you not to use that in front of people." He whispered loudly.

"What does it mean?" Diana asked, looking between Clara and Race.

"Don't translate it." Race all but begged Clara.

She lightly slapped his cheek, "My little meatball."

The laughter drowned out the maid who came to inform them dinner was ready. After a few minutes, they finally heard her and everyone stood to go to the dining room. "Ah, _mio polpetto_ , ya nevah gonna live that down." Blink said, clapping Race on the back.

"That's the last time I tell Clara anything about my childhood." Race muttered to David as they walked out of the parlor together.

"We used to call Clara _brzydalu_." Mr. Renwick told Race, and Clara gasped.

"Daddy, _no_."

Sean Renwick grinned adoringly at his daughter, "My mother was polish. It means 'ugly one' but it's a popular endearment."

"Clara was an ugly child." Scott added, and winced as the petite red-head punched him in the arm. "Kidding, kidding."

"You weren't the cutest kid, either." She muttered, "The doctor almost dropped you, you came out looking so ugly."

The entire group laughed at the siblings' bickering, "All of my children were just beautiful." Mrs. Renwick spoke up as they sat down, ever the peacemaker.

David looked around at the group, laughing and chatting, and felt a warmth of happiness spread through him. It also made him feel a tad ache as he thought about his own family. He hadn't visited them in a few weeks. He should go over soon, see how Les was doing in school, see how Sarah and the kids were. Her two boys just got bigger every time he saw them. Arthur was four and Peter had just turned two…David shook his head. He completely forgot Peter's birthday, he'd have to go out tomorrow and pick something up for him.

Dinner passed fairly uneventful, with only a few mentions of 'little meatball' making its rounds. Race took it all, his eyes still gazing at Clara as if she were the very source for his life force. Clara did apologize halfway through, causing Race to roll his eyes and reply that it was a little late for apologies.

But, the dinner ended too fast for David's liking because now he had to do something he'd been dreading for a week. After bidding his hosts good night, he followed Jack and Hazel out of the door and into the front yard, the October air crispy and chilly. He called to his former best friend. "Can I talk to you?" He asked, hearing the grudging in his own voice but he was too annoyed with what he had to do to stifle it.

Jack told Hazel to stay right where she was on the walkway and kept an eye on her as he came over to David, "Well, this is a surprise." He muttered, sarcastically, "David acknowledges me."

Gritting his teeth, David reached into his pocket, "It has come to my attention that you helped out last week on the arrival of the Ballet company. I just wanted to pay you for your time."

Jack crossed his arms, "I don't want ya money, Dave."

"Too bad, you're going to take it. I don't let people work for free." David replied, holding the rolled up bills towards Jack.

"I'm not taking that." Jack replied, "I was helping Race out. It was a friend helping anothah friend."

"C'mon, Jack. You're a single father. Take the money and let me go home." David replied, growing tired of their constant ego-ridden contest to see who could hate the other more.

"David!" Race called from the front door, "Oh, good, ya still out there. Greg's on the phone. Somethin' wrong at the hotel."

"Take it." David pressed, until finally Jack did take it.

"But, only because I have Hazel to think about." Jack bit out, tucking the money away and turning back to his kid as David sighed and headed back into the house. He took the phone from Race and listened as Greg talked, his voice strained with stress.

"I'll be there as soon as I can be." David said, hanging up.

"Dave, wait. What's going on?" Race asked as David walked briskly to the front door.

David felt another sigh, he had been doing that more and more lately, and replied, "Someone broke into one of the ballerina's room."

"Which ballerina?" Carlos asked, eyes narrowing.

"Natalia Malakhov." David answered, before walking out the front door.

 **A/N: Bum, bum, buuuum. Much love and thanks to Pixielou for allowing Clara to call Race her little meatball. Too funny, guys! Review, please!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	6. Chapter 6

_June 11_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Summer has arrived. It is my least favorite season, but it is so achingly beautiful. The blue skies, the puffy white clouds, the green of the leaves. I had enough energy to walk through the garden this morning. The camomile flowers are in full bloom, scenting the air heavily, and our Azaleas are the prettiest shade of blue this year. I think your father added a little lemon juice to the soil to get it to turn blue for me. They remind me of your eyes._

 _Six months without your voice. Someday, when you become a mother, you will realize how hard it is to be apart from your child. It is an ache in your heart you cannot soothe. I wish that you'll never have to feel it like this. I wish I could talk to you, to see you. See the changes in you since last December. I wish the last time I saw you wasn't such a horrible fight that ended in this chilling silence._

 _If I could see you in person, I'd tell you why we don't marry the first man who we think we love. We wait for the man our instinct tells us to run to. Carmen used to tell me that instinct is the future whispering warnings and all we have to do is listen. So, listen, solnishko._

 _Love, Mama_

* * *

Carlos kissed Sophie goodbye and followed David out of Race and Clara's home.

"You don't have to come." David said.

Carlos flashed him an amused smile, "Of course I do, David. A break-in means there's a villain to catch and I _am_ a Private Investigator."

Rolling his eyes, David grabbed the closest carriage and barked the address of the hotel as they climbed in. "Is there anyone you haven't found, Carlos?" He meant it rhetorically, confident in the Spanish man's abilities because he had never failed him before.

Carlos' blue eyes looked out the window, an array of emotion behind them. David suspected there was annoyance and awe, "Only one. A girl I was asked to look for in the fall of 1899. The man didn't have a lot of money, but I was young and needed to get a good rep so I did it for nothing. But, it got to be an interesting case when I searched every lead I had and they all ran cold." He ran a hand lightly through his hair, "I finally gave up last year. I ran out of resources and leads and Sophie came to town." He grinned suddenly, "I didn't find her, but he left the city after I told him I had to retire the case and found her. Married her."

David felt an answering smile quirk up the corner of his mouth as he let silence fall in the carriage. It was nice to hear that although Carlos had failed, the man looking for her hadn't. Unfortunately, David couldn't bask in the good news of that story for long because he had to mentally prepare himself for the inevitable craziness that he was sure had developed due to the break-in. He was equal parts furious that it had occurred and curious at whomever had been stupid enough to do something in _his_ hotel. It hadn't escaped his notice, either, that the break-in had occurred in Nina and Natalia's room. As two of the best dancers, they were bound to be targeted by numerous people.

Sure enough, when they arrived they found the hotel in utter chaos. Police, Greg, and Natalia were behind the desk as other guests milled around the lobby, excitedly gossiping of the break-in. Jake Miller wove between them, trying and seeming to fail at convincing them to go back to their rooms. He looked relieved when he caught sight of David. David on the other hand, felt a wave of irritation, compounded on top of putting his pride aside to pay Jack, and found himself in an all-around terrible mood.

He grudgingly reflected that at one time in his life, when he was younger and helping Jack lead the strike, he had liked people. Remembered even after losing Minnie and Jack, fondly assuring and answering every question and problem each guest brought to him when he had overseen the guest relations desk at the Chelsea Hotel. For a while it had felt like his calling; it was why he'd gotten into this business. Had naively believed that he could foster a comfortable, homey feeling at his own hotel for every guest who was looking for a stopping place for the night-or a few nights.

Now, everything felt like a continual buzz of irritation, just out of reach for him to swipe it away. The soft roar of the gossiping patrons hummed around him in such a grating way that he desperately wished he'd gone through the back receiving door. Anything to avoid all the stares that turned on him as soon as he walked through the front door.

"Mr. Jacobs." Greg hailed him, letting guests who didn't know him by face now recognize him.

He scowled, but was in no mood for formalities. Quickly, he began to dish out orders as Carlos easily blended into the background and watched, "Greg, please take Miss Malakhov to the back office, along with the investigating officers. I want only witnesses left down here, preferably over in the lounge. Jake, I want you to assure all guests of their safety and seen back to their rooms. Give each room on Miss Malakhov's floor as well as any witnesses a complimentary pot of coffee for the disruption of their evening."

"Mr. Jacobs, my name is Ethel Shroudsberry and I swear the assailant climbed up the fire escape right past my bedroom." The woman, Ethel, placed herself directly in front of David and he had to clench his jaw to keep from snapping at the lady.

Instead, he forced a polite nod, "Mrs. Shroudsberry, we humbly request your participation as a key witness, then. If you'll just wait a few minutes over here in our lounge, I'll have an officer take your statement. Let me have the restaurant bring out a dessert to tide you over." His uncanny ability to appease guests done, David let Jake usher the woman over to the lounge and turned towards his office where Natalia and the officers waited.

Running a hand through his hair, he hung his coat on the rack and turned to Natalia, "Are you alright? Can I get you anything?" He motioned for her to sit in his desk chair, the more comfortable of the chairs in the office. His number one rule, always make sure your guest was comfortable and felt safe.

"Um, just water." She said hesitantly as she took the seat, gaze watching Greg as he left to bring her what she asked for before adding, "I wasn't harmed or anything. Just spooked to wake up to find a man beside my bed."

"Did you catch what he looked like? Did you recognize him?" David asked, catching Carlos pull out a small journal to write down anything she remembered.

Natalia lightly ran a hand through her blonde hair, "Well, no. It was too dark and when I realized someone was in my room, I sort of froze up. It was definitely a man. I heard him curse. He was looking through my drawers for something."

Carlos pointed up and David nodded his head and turned back to Natalia, "We're going to take a look around the room. The officers here will ask you any other questions."

Natalia nodded just as Greg brought back the glass of water and David and Carlos left the office.

"Where's Nina?" Carlos asked as they stepped onto the elevator.

David shrugged, "I don't know. They've been at rehearsal every evening and she's always the last to come back."

Carlos quirked a dark eyebrow, "Keeping a close eye on her, David?"

"No." David muttered, scowling and pointedly ignoring the Spanish man's knowing look as the elevator door pinged open to the sixth floor. "Room 611." He told Carlos, pointing to the left and they went down a few doors until they reached Natalia and Nina's room. David pulled out his master key and together they stepped into the suite.

"Which room is Natalia's?" Carlos asked, gazing around.

"Probably should have asked. Guess we'll have to look through both rooms." David replied, heading towards the room on the left.

Carlos muttered something, but David didn't catch it and he didn't ask for him to repeat it. He simply began looking around for something of value that would illicit a break in. Moving over to the bed, he pulled open the top drawer of the night stand. Inside was a map of New York and he pulled it out and opened it up. Little stars were made with a pen, and he realized he remembered seeing Nina with this map last week. Gently, he folded it up but instead of putting it back, he found himself tucking into the inner pocket of his coat.

He closed the drawer and opened the bottom one. The only thing inside was a lacquer box with a painting of a man and woman riding a large, grey wolf. He lifted the lid and was surprised to find no jewelry, but rather a bundle of letters addressed to Nina Teleshova.

"What are you doing in my room?!" A voice from the doorway startled him and he let the lid of the lacquer box fall shut as he turned to meet the startling blue eyes of the Prima Ballerina.

 **A/N: Ugh, this is short for how long I made you guys wait but I already started chapter 6 and you shouldn't have to wait as long for that one. I'm sorry! I've been distracted by Numb and have been ignoring this story, but lucky for you guys Pixielou wanted to use Carlos in her story My Perfect Disaster and so I got quality time with him and got back to this story! YAY! (So, you guys should check out Pixielou's stories and review them!)**

 **Also, drop me a review! Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing this story!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	7. Chapter 7

_October 17_ _th_ _, 1907_

 _You putrid excuse for a human being. You've had weeks to look for what I asked and still you dig your heels in. If you won't do it, I'll hire someone else. Are you really going to let her treat you like a piece of shit? You are not the man I thought you were. You're just as pathetic as she thinks._

 _Get me that box. Before the end of the month. Or I'll break your feet and you'll never dance again._

 _-G_

* * *

For a week, Nina had been throwing herself into her dancing. It was better to exhaust herself and perfect her role as Columbine, the love interest of Harlequin played by Sergei, then think about how lonely she was. Natalia was an excellent friend, but she also had other friends in the company that she spent time with and despite all of Nina's efforts, she couldn't seem to get the others to see her for anything more than the Prima ballerina.

If she had known when she began dancing how isolated she would feel at the top, Nina wasn't sure she would have continued ballet. No one had warned her or prepared her for the solitude she would have to endure. Growing up, she had been the only child of her parent's and it had left for a lonely childhood. She thought when she went to join the company that she wouldn't ever feel like this again.

She gave a frustrated sigh as she messed up a triple pirouette. Sighing, she reset her form and glanced at her reflection in the mirror, checking to make sure her back was ramrod stiff, that her arms were parallel to the ground, and then she caught a glimpse of the window behind her. The moon, full and bright, was just visible and she realized just how many hours she had spent dancing. She hadn't even realized how dark the room had gotten as the sun slowly fell and her eyes gradually adjusted accordingly. Her feet were probably bleeding in her shoes; her stomach was empty and to top it off…no one even cared that she had been dancing all day with barely a break. No one had even peaked in and asked her if she was ready to go back to the hotel.

Slowly, she came off her toes and moved over to the window to look at the moon rather than just the reflection. It was stunning and accompanied by stars that twinkled merrily. Below, only a few people walked along the sidewalk and she felt a stab of anxiety at having to catch a carriage back to the Benjamin alone.

At least, there was a chance she could go to the restaurant tomorrow evening and catch a glimpse of David again. If that was a regular thing he did on Mondays. She wasn't entirely sure, but she suspected he was a man who liked to follow a set schedule.

Idly, she wondered why she was so drawn to the surly hotel owner. She had seen him only a few times from afar since he paid for her dinner, hadn't spoken or been within five feet of each other. But, she felt such a keen curiosity about him. It was as if she recognized another lonely, lost soul. Although, he hadn't seemed lonely surrounded by those friends last week. Maybe she had read everything wrong and he was as happy as a clam and held no interest in her.

Moving away from the window, she went to her bag and quickly changed out of her dance tunic and into a simple, respectable skirt, blouse, and coat before leaving the practice room. Outside, the autumn breeze had a bitter bite of winter two it and she pulled her coat closer as she went to a nearby carriage.

She gave the man the hotel address and looked longingly out the window as it started down the cobblestoned street. Practicing so much had left for little time to go to the places on her map, which she had placed in her nightstand drawer on Monday and had only pulled out long enough to transfer it to her new nightstand drawer in the middle of the week when Natalia had asked to switch rooms.

"Nina, you sleep like the dead. _I_ , however, sleep light as a feather and that dratted man next door makes all kinds of ruckus in the middle of the night." Natalia had informed her, "Can we switch rooms? Mine has a better view."

The view _was_ better. Rather than looking at the ugly fire escape, Nina now had a nice sixth floor view of Manhattan. In the early morning, when she was forced to get out of bed at the crack of dawn for rehearsal, the sunrise was always beautiful enough that she found she didn't mind being up so early.

The carriage halted in front of the grand hotel and she barely noticed the handful of people sitting in the lounge off to the right of the lobby, or the police officers taking statements. Instead, she went right for the elevator, and up to the sixth floor.

Alarm didn't jump through her until she found her hotel room door ajar, footsteps and mutterings could be heard inside. Slowly, hesitantly, she entered the main foyer. Drawers opening and closing could be heard from Natalia's room, but so could she hear it from her own. Nina nervously adjusted the bag on her shoulder and wondered if she should call out for Natalia, or find the closest hotel worker and seek help. Instead, curiosity won over and she peeked into her room.

David Jacobs was opening her bottom nightstand drawer and nosily opening her Russian Lacquer box. Furious, she stepped fully into the room, "What are you doing in my room?!"

Her exclamation startled him and he pulled away, stepped back, and turned to meet her gaze. For a moment, she was startled by the frozen, blue intensity of his eyes. She hadn't read him wrong-there most definitely was a deep-seated loneliness there. It haunted the edges of his mouth, which was often turned down, and in the way he stood stiffly and perpetually apart from all those around him.

"Are you just getting back from rehearsal?" He asked, instead of answering her question. As if it were normal for him to be in her room.

She wished it _was_ normal. His presence there soothed her like a balm, causing her to feel safe…She pushed those thoughts away. She would not let loneliness drive her into the arms of another man who would break her heart. "Yes, but that doesn't answer why you're in my room."

A sound from behind her caused her to jump and she whirled around to see the vaguely familiar face of the man from Monday night. The Spaniard who had never given her a name but had known exactly who she was. Her feet carried her backwards, away from the stranger, until she collided into David.

"It's alright." He whispered soothingly, his hands going up to rest on her shoulders, "This is Carlos Fuentes. He's a private investigator I hired for a break-in."

"Break-in?" She whispered, half turning to look up at him, her thoughts whirling around in her mind, "Where's Natalia? Is she alright?"

She would have moved to go look for her friend, but David's hand tightened just a touch, "She's fine. The police are downstairs taking her statement. A man broke into her room earlier while she was asleep. He was looking for something, but he bolted up the fire escape as soon as she woke up." His voice continued to be soothing, as if he knew all of this would be a lot of new information. "Carlos and I were looking for any clues to what he was looking for or who it could have been."

"Do you have any enemies, Ms. Teleshova?" Carlos asked, still in the doorway.

Nina felt a bubble of nervous laughter climb out of her throat as she moved to sit on the bed. "Just about every girl in the company." She told him offhandedly, "And I don't get along with Nikolai or Sergei. Arrogant, preening…" She trailed off and glanced between the two men who were listening intently and felt another burst of nervous laughter, "I suppose I'm not entirely easy to get along with, either." She felt uncomfortable as the two pairs of blue eyes, though as different in shade as night and day, exchanged a look and turned back to look at her. They were both so disconcertingly astute that she felt as though she were naked. "What?" She asked, looking back and forth.

Carlos merely stared at her, as if she were a strange creature from another world as David gently replied, "I am going to move you guys to another suite. We'll keep it confidential and guard your privacy so this won't happen again. I am also going to assign Carlos here to keep an eye on you and Natalia until we figure out if this was random or if one of you were targeted."

Another nervous chuckle and Nina felt an embarrassed blush rise up her neck, "Sure, third time's the charm, yes?"

"Third time?" Carlos and David both zeroed in on her comment but Carlos was quicker with the question, and she found herself once more the sole focus of both of those gazes.

"Natalia and I switched room on Thursday." She told them slowly, "She's a light sleeper and the person next door to this room makes a lot of noise at night."

The two men exchanged another look before David took her arm and gently pulled her to her feet, "Start packing up your things and I'll get a new room ready."

Nina found herself looking sadly towards the window, "But, I just got the room with the view." She half muttered, turning to pull her suitcase out of the closet and setting it on the settee at the end of the bed to start packing.

She felt David's eyes on her as Carlos left the room, but she ignored him. Until he spoke and she looked up to meet his eyes, "I'll get you a better view."

It sounded like a promise and she felt a strange thrill shoot up her spine at his words. Many men had made promises to her. None followed through.

Would David be the first to keep one? She could hardly let herself hope.

 **A/N: Two updates in one day, yay! I couldn't stop writing this so here you guys go! Drop me a review!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	8. Chapter 8

_July 20_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Dearest,_

 _In this letter, I have added a photograph of Carmen and her son, Carlos. She sent this to me when he was five years old. I remember receiving the letter, of tearing it open and almost weeping at the sight of my dearest friend and her child. He is two years younger than you…Did I tell you how Carmen and I met?_

 _I hadn't met Gabriel, yet, but I knew his friend Charles. He was a charismatic man, charming, and devilishly handsome. Dark hair, eyes bluer than the summer skies. He could talk a cow into happily going to the butcher's…Charles and I had met before Carmen came to Paris for the summer and I thought for a little while that it could be love._

 _But, when Carmen showed up on the social scene, Charles was immediately enamored. Part of me befriended her to attempt discord between the two. I'm ashamed of that part of me, but instead of causing dissonance we became great friends. I wish we had more time together, just as I wish I had more time with you._

 _I love you forever & Always, _

_Mama_

* * *

It was after two in the morning when Carlos came home. He had stayed long enough to make sure Natalia and Nina were safely ensconced in their new suite, conveniently located on the top floor, next to David's suite he found out. He'd found himself slightly irritated at David's behavior, unsure of what to make of his obvious-yet, completely oblivious, attraction to the Ballet Company's Prima Ballerina.

"Carlos?" Sophie mumbled sleepily as he sat on the edge of the bed and took his shoes off.

"It's me, _querida_. Go back to sleep." He whispered to her as he dressed down and slid in beside her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her soft, blonde hair that streamed across the pillow like moonlight. He inhaled her signature mint smell and relaxed.

The ring he'd given her two months ago glinted in the moonlight from the window as she lifted her hand to caress his back and pull him closer to her, "Mmm, but how can I sleep when you're home?" Her voice was sultry from sleep and it turned his blood hot as she snuggled up to him and kissed him softly.

" _Eres mi corazón fuera de mi pecho."_ He murmured, "You are my heart outside of my chest." He translated as he moved down to the spot on her neck that he knew she favored.

She let out the softest moan, "Mm, Carlos." Her hands found their way under his shirt and he groaned as they skimmed across his skin leaving tingles in their wake. He didn't understand how, after all the horrible things he had done, she still loved and accepted him. He didn't deserve her, but he wanted to love her anyway. The need to protect and cherish her overwhelmed him and he pulled away suddenly, ignoring her sigh of frustration.

"Sophie." He whispered and she opened her eyes to meet his steady gaze, "I want to marry you."

She laughed softly, "Isn't that what the ring you gave me means?"

He brushed his hands through her hair, "Yes, but I'm tired of not being your husband, _mi Corazon_. I want to marry you this second." He needed to, couldn't wait a moment longer, couldn't have her think he'd leave for any reason other than death; and even then, he'd fight tooth and nail to stay alive, to stay with her. He couldn't lose her a second time.

Sophie sat up, taking his face in her hands as her green eyes flickered across his face, "Carlos, what's wrong? What's going on? Did something happen tonight?" The sincere concern touched his soul in the very spot where hope had grown, just a small bud when they had met and now an entire forest because of his Sophie.

He looked away from her probing gaze and tried to word it all, "I…need to marry you. I need to protect you with my name if anything happens to me, I need you safe, and well off if I should die. I…" He paused, realizing why it was he needed this now, "I need you to be my wife, so I don't turn out like my father."

"Oh, sweetie." Sophie murmured, brushing back his dark hair with gentle fingers, "You are not like your father. You would never willingly leave me."

Her confidence in him awarded a smile from him, but he shook his head slowly, "My father…he promised one girl a future and got her with child before abandoning her to pursue my mother. After almost a year, he convinced her to leave her family, to be cut off from them forever, to move with him here. He stayed around for a bit, but then he abandoned her, too. Only after the dust had settled did she realize she was pregnant with me."

Sophie's green eyes had widened. She knew all of this for the most part, they had discussed his mother at great length in the year they'd been together, but he had never told her of the woman before Carmen Fuentes. "Carlos, do you have a sibling?"

Just the right side of his mouth pulled up, "A half-sibling, _sí querida_. I never held much hope for meeting her, Vasilisa married quickly after his rejection to hide the fact that she was pregnant out of wedlock. She eventually moved back to Russia. She and my mother corresponded quite often, though. Despite his pursuit of Carmen, they had found a friend in each other."

Sophie furrowed her blonde eyebrows, "Russia? Does that mean one of the girls in the Ballet Company is your half-sibling?"

He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, "Nina Teleshova. I knew the minute I started putting together her file for David. I…I don't think she knows about me, though. When David told her my name, there was no recognition. Perhaps her mother never told her."

"Oh. That's disappointing." Sophie murmured, pulling his hand into her lap, "But, perhaps you can get to know her better, see if there's a reason she doesn't know."

Carlos smiled, "I'll get the opportunity. Looks like she was the target for a break-in, they were looking for something in her possession, but her and her roommate switched rooms. I'll be keeping an eye on her until we solve this."

Sophie pulled him gently back down on the mattress, "Then you must get rest. You have a big day in the morning and I do hope I get to meet her, maybe?" She sighed as she snuggled up against him, "You have _family_ , Carlos. How exciting! Do you think she'd stay in New York? Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself."

He shuffled her to lay on top of him and gently kissed her lips, " _We_ have family, Sophie. Any family of mine is yours. I'm still marrying you. Soon."

She answered him with a kiss.

* * *

David barely got sleep after Nina and Natalia were settled into a room on the top floor of the Benjamin. After confronting Nina in her room, he still couldn't pinpoint what it was about her that stirred some inner part of him, a part he didn't recognize or care to look at too closely. He just wanted things to go back to normal. He briefly wished his competition, the Plaza Hotel, had opened earlier in the year. Perhaps, they would have gone there instead of to his hotel.

It was unlike him to wish away business. Deciding he wouldn't be getting much sleep, he got dressed and took the elevator down to the lobby. It was blissfully empty save for Greg, who only worked the overnight shift one day a week.

"Boss." Greg greeted, looking up from the newspaper in front of him.

David nodded towards him, "I'll be in my office. When Jake comes by, have him do extra security sweeps on the top floor. In case the suspect is aware we moved their room." He didn't think whoever it was knew, no one had been around as they loaded up their luggage. That didn't mean the suspect hadn't been watching from a peephole behind a door.

Greg nodded, "Sure. I have all the staff on alert for anything that could lead to finding the man responsible."

Occupying himself with other problems kept his thoughts from Nina for a while, at least. Until he caught up on his paperwork. Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for just a moment. Unfortunately, his mind already had a memory of Nina waiting, of her catching him in her room. She had looked furious to find him there, but behind those dark, blue eyes there had been vulnerability, loneliness, and deep sadness that had called out to him.

The way she had turned to him for protection when Carlos had come in…David couldn't help the protectiveness that had swept over him, the staggering need to sooth her and assure her she was safe.

He opened his eyes and sat up. Did he…like her? He hadn't so much as bat an eyelash at any woman since Minnie, could not have cared less about any number of women who had looked at him with lust in their eyes at his ambition and success at such a young age. He was still actively avoiding mothers set on betrothing him to their daughters that he had met at Race and Clara's engagement party over a year ago.

Scowling, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out the file Carlos had given him on her. A photograph of her from 1905 was right inside, her hair swept up, her hands in a fur muff, and a large fur hat seated upon her head. She was beautiful, but her eyes looked incredibly desolate and he found himself brushing his fingers across her face.

"Davey, what's all this about a break-in?" Mush called out, distracting him. He closed the file and was just putting it back into the desk drawer when his friend popped his head in.

Rubbing a hand across his face, he looked at the clock on his desk distractedly, surprised it was already morning, "A man broke into Natalia's room. We moved her and Nina and I want their room number to be confidential. Do not even write it in the books."

Mush looked surprised, but nodded, "You got it, Dave." He didn't ask for any more details, simply headed back to the front desk, leaving the office door wide open. David sighed and went over to the mirror hanging on the wall to make sure he didn't look like death warmed over.

"Yeah, David was spending so much time here anyway, he just let the lease on his apartment go up and made a home on the top floor. We only put guests there if the rest of the hotel is booked." He heard Mush saying, and he felt a wave of anger and annoyance at how easily his friend gave out information.

He walked down the hallway, "Mush, why are you telling people…" He trailed off as he spied Nina and Natalia standing at the front desk, the lobby empty, both listening attentively to the former newsboy. "Uh, good morning." He said, pulling up short, his eyes caught on Nina.

She looked tired, worn out, and unhappy. As someone who was in the business of making guests happy, it itched at him that she looked so miserable. "Good morning." She murmured as Natalia looked between them and raised a blonde eyebrow.

"Good morning, Mr. Jacobs." Natalia said, "We were just talking to Mush, but we really should be heading off to practice."

Mush gave him an embarrassed look, "Sorry, they asked."

"I want you two to keep your room confidential. Don't invite any of the company to it until we figure out who it is or what they want." He told them, his tone a little harsher than he meant it to be.

"Fine by me. Just have to make sure the social butterfly here listens." Nina replied, casting a look towards Natalia.

Natalia shrugged, "I can't help it I'm so likable. But, I'll just meet my friends in the lobby. Nikolai and I are going to this place called Irving Hall tonight."

David didn't miss the look of longing that passed across Nina's face and before he could stop himself, he found the invitation already leaving his mouth, "My friends and I are having dinner in the restaurant tonight, would you like to join us?"

"Yeah, Nina, I'll be there and so will Race and his wife. A few othahs, too." Mush's excited addition to his question brought the smile to Nina's face and he forced himself not to glare at his friend.

She dipped her head down and then glanced back up through her eyelashes, "I'd like that, thank you."

"I'll come by your room and escort you down." He found himself offering.

Natalia passed another look between the two of them, "You could come to Irving Hall with Nikolai and I, Nina. I'm sure he won't mind."

A look of frustrated annoyance flashed on Nina's face, "No, thank you. Nikolai is nothing but rude to me and I'd rather be with people who actually want me around. Thank you, David. Alex."

They both turned to leave, Natalia dropping her voice to argue with Nina, who seemed to brush it off as they exited the hotel. Mush raised an eyebrow at David, "That was unexpected."

"What?" David asked, feeling defensive all of a sudden.

"Inviting Nina..." Mush paused and a crooked grin started to spread across his mouth, "And you said you weren't likely to fall in love."

He rolled his eyes as Mush brought up a conversation they had in August shortly after Blink and Katherine got together, "This isn't love. I'm keeping an eye on her because she's being targeted." He didn't add that she was so obviously lonely, didn't want Mush to know how much it bothered him that she was. "This is business."

Mush looked unconvinced, "Famous last words, my friend."

 **A/N: Soo, if you wanna see the photograph described just google Anna Pavlova and check out the main pic on her wiki page! Otherwise, thank you to Pixielou and my guest reviewer! Hope everyone reading is enjoying! Drop me a review!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	9. Chapter 9

_August 28_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Nina,_

 _Do you remember when you were three and I spent the entire summer crying? I think you were too young, perhaps, to recall. But, you had a little brother. I wished with every bit of my being for a sibling for you. I knew what it was like to be an only child. I knew if anything happened to your father and me…if you never went to America…I was eight months pregnant. I knew the morning I woke that something was wrong. That life inside of me had…gone out like a candle. There was no warning, no reason. My body went into labor, ejected the still form within me._

 _He was so tiny. Ten toes. Ten fingers. It was the darkest summer of my life. I still visit the tiny burial spot your father put him. The doctor told me not to try for another. I wanted so badly…_

 _This silence from you reminds me of waking up that morning. I feel the wrongness. I cannot change it._

 _Mama_

* * *

Nina played anxiously with her sleeve as she stared out at the view of her new room. David had not underdelivered. Her room had the best view. He had told her, as soon as they stepped into the suite, which room was hers. His face had been solemn, but his blue eyes had sparkled just the tiniest bit and when she did a double take, she almost believed she imagined it.

Of course, at the time it had been too dark to see anything other than the tiny street lights far below. But that morning, as she had gotten ready for practice, she had glimpsed the sun's rays beginning to reach over the city, stretching like the small, orange cat Nina had when she was a child. Her window faced south so it allowed her to see both the sunrise just visible to the left of her and now, the sunset to the right. The bright orange of sunrise had faded to a much softer orange as the dark blue of night invaded the day.

It was perfect.

It was nothing less than what he had promised her. She felt a thrill, even as nerves flooded her at the prospect of even remotely liking the Hotelier. He was too solemn, too tall, too ambitious, too everything. And tonight she would get to know him even more, would meet his friends and see the way they interacted, would see where he fit in the group of people. She couldn't wait.

A soft knock sounded on the front door. She smoothed her satin dress and patted her hair as she stepped out of her room and went to answer it.

"I can't believe you're going through with this." Natalia hissed towards her, coming out of her own room. "You told me to keep you away from him and here you are going to dinner!" Her friend looked lovely, as always, in a blue-green dress that vaguely reminded Nina of the ocean. It brought out a particularly lovely shade of green in her usually grey eyes.

Nina rolled her eyes as she placed her hand on the door knob and turned to her friend, "You've been saying so all day. But, it's done. I'm going to have fun and make some new friends." It sounded slightly juvenile, but Nina was tired of being cooped up in the hotel. She wanted to meet new people, experience New York like an actual New Yorker, and be wined and dined by a rich, young hotel owner.

Natalia softened just a bit, knowing how lonely Nina had been the last few years since becoming Prima. "I just worry." She murmured, "But, I do want you to have fun." It was said half grudgingly, but it was sincere and Nina smiled at her petite friend.

Then, she straightened her shoulders and opened the door and as it widened she took in David standing there. His hands were clasped in front of him, looking just the slightest bit nervous, and just a tad more rumpled than usual. There was a tiredness in the slight shadows under his eyes but he seemed to force something that vaguely resembled a smile, "Nice dress." He muttered, as though it was something he had said over and over again and was tired of repeating.

His entire demeanor made her clench her jaw slightly in irritation and she couldn't keep her lip from curling in slight derision as politeness forced her to say, "Nice…shoes." It was the only thing that she could think to compliment since it looked like he was still in his uniform. He evidently hadn't changed for dinner. Clearly, this wasn't a date. _Obviously_ , he was just being nice and it was so blatant he wasn't interested in her. She felt suddenly foolish for thinking such silly thoughts and it only furthered her aggravation. If he truly believed to court her, he wouldn't look as though he were heading for the gallows as he offered her his bent elbow and they proceeded down the hall.

Inwardly, her aggression grew as he made no real attempt at pleasantries-not that she wanted it. The awkward silence stretched between them until the elevator reached the lobby and he seemed to remember he should talk, "Uh, how is your room?" He asked.

"Oh, lovely." The affection she had felt earlier when gazing at her view was gone, but she was still clinging to hope that their evening would turn for the better.

His stiff reply of, "Good." Was drowned out by a woman calling a greeting to him.

She was radiant, with beautiful red hair done neatly up and sparkling green eyes-and familiar looking. Nina realized why as she approached them and Race, who had been holding a door for a few other women, also familiar faces from the dinner last week, walked up to stand beside her. "Dave, it's about time ya bring a date ta one of these things." He commented, winking at Nina, "Nina, right?"

"Race! It's good to see David didn't fire you." She told the Italian, shaking his hand. Of course, she knew he hadn't because she had seen the man throughout the week, but it was nice to have a little inside joke with someone.

Race elbowed David lightly, "Not yet, right, Davey?" He grinned, and then held a hand out to the red head, "Nina, this is Clara Higgins, the woman who lost a bet with life and got stuck with me. Clara, Nina Teleshova, the Prima Ballerina."

Clara rolled her eyes at his joke, but Nina could see the open adoration between the couple as Clara shook her hand, "Nice to meet you. We're all looking forward to opening night."

"All?" Nina inquired, glancing towards David as the rest of the group reached them. She recognized Carlos, Alex and Thomas, all of whom had a beautiful lady with them.

The pregnant woman, Alex's wife, smiled sweetly, "We have quite the group coming. I'm Vivian Meyers, it's wonderful to meet you."

"And you." Nina replied, shaking her hand as David gestured to each person and introduced them. Alex he introduced as Mush, and Thomas as Blink, giving Nina pause. Although, she hadn't thought anything of Race's nickname, she assumed now that must be what they were. The women were all pleasant, but it was Sophie, Carlos' lady, that greeted her the most warmly.

"What is it like to be a ballerina?" She asked, looping her arm through Nina's as the group entered the restaurant and gravitated towards the table they sat at last week. Sophie was not as tall as Nina, probably only around five foot four, but she had lovely green eyes that sparkled brightly and soft blonde hair swept up for the evening.

Carlos pulled out a chair for both of them and Nina glanced at David to gauge his reaction. He didn't even seem to notice that he was being a rude date, which only seemed to antagonize her more. Feeling it was best to snub him by ignoring him the rest of the evening, she turned back to Sophie to answer her, "It's very disciplined, and exhausting." She paused a moment before smiling at the blonde, "But, it's worth every grueling second."

Sophie smiled brilliantly and Nina's eyes strayed to Carlos, who was seated on the woman's other side. He had frozen in place, his gaze caught by her brightness and he shook his head just a bit to break the spell she seemed to put him under. He felt Nina's gaze and he met her eyes for a moment before returning them to his menu, just the slightest blush rising up his cheeks. It was an endearing moment. "I think it'd be lovely to dance for a living." Sophie commented, a tad wistfully.

"Dancing never gets old." Nina agreed with Sophie, feel a spike of excitement at the prospect of making a new friend.

" _Querida_ , just say the word and I will take you dancing." Carlos murmured to her, kissing the back of her hand.

Laughter to Nina's left broke her from Sophie and Carlos' moment and she turned to see Race passing money to Clara, who was smiling smugly as they watched their waiter walk out of the doors to the restaurant. David was not smiling, his blue eyes eyes thunderous as Skittery approached, but Blink was howling and Katy, Mush, and Vivian were trying to smother their smiles behind their hands. Race shook his head as Skittery saw David, stopped in midstride, and then turned around to make his way back to the kitchens-moving much faster than Nina had previously seen.

David moved to stand, but Nina unconsciously reached out a hand to stop him, unsure exactly why she did it. It's not like David would listen…

But, he stilled, his sharp, ice gaze falling on her hand before he settled back into his seat with a sigh. Nina glanced around the table, but it looked as if no one was paying attention as Race griped about continuously losing bets with his wife.

"The woman is luckier than a four-leaf clover." He groused, though his expression as he gazed at Clara was one of absolute love. Actually, Nina found herself half annoyed and half jealous at the way all the men around the table looked at their ladies with such warmth and love.

Men had always gazed at Nina with open admiration at her dancing skills and appreciation of her beauty. At one time, she had liked the attention, the want behind a man's gaze drawing her in and making her feel exhilarated. But, at some point in the last year or two, she noticed that while they looked at her, they never really _saw_ her. So many men from every different class would idolize and praise her looks and talent-the very things she could not actually control.

None of them looked at her with love. Desire, sure. She was a Prima Ballerina, from a good family, and had means of her own…

She flicked a look over to David, who hadn't spoken a word to her and didn't look at her like the others did. He barely spared her a glance, in all honesty. It made her bristle as Skittery came back out, his hair brushed, his suspenders neatly in place over his shoulders. David did glance at her, then, and she was surprised as a smile twitched at the edge of his mouth.

"What can I get you fine folks?" Skittery asked, with the slightest tinge of sarcasm as he forced a smile.

"The money I lost ta my wife!" Race told him as Clara elbowed him in the ribs.

Vivian, on the other side of David, broke through the laughter, "Thomas, what do you suggest?" She asked, looking at Blink.

He peered over the menu before replying, "The Halibut and Salmon are good, if you like fish. Or try the braised beef with the Yorkshire puddings."

Everyone seemed pleased with the options and Nina decided on the Salmon as David ordered the Halibut. She grew quiet as she watched the friends talk and laugh, making jokes she didn't quite understand, but that made her laugh. Even though she was increasingly aware of David's lack of interest, she still enjoyed his dry witted humor that slipped out periodically during the dinner, often made in a low tone and heard by only her and Vivian.

While everyone enjoyed dessert, Nina stood and excused herself for the powder room, following David's directions from the restaurant and when she looked at herself in the reflective glass, she realized how happy and alive she looked compared to her usual self.

As she headed back, she slipped behind one of the pillars as she heard Vivian and Clara's voice on their way to the powder room. "…seems a little cold and aloof." Clara was saying, her voice a tad chiding.

"Oh, I didn't get that impression at all. She seems lonely." Vivian replied, "And David was making _jokes_."

Clara gasped dramatically, and the two laughed as their voices faded away from Nina and she stood there contemplating for a second before heading to the restaurant. Just as she reached the door, Skittery came out with an unlit cigarette in his mouth and he nodded his head at her in greeting, "Hey, you should come back next week." He told her, pulling out a box of matches, but refraining from lighting the cigarette yet.

"Why?" Nina asked, taken aback just a bit at the casual invitation.

"Davey's not so grumpy when ya around." He laughed, as if he'd made a joke, and then made his way slowly out of the hotel. She could see through the doors as he lit his cigarette just outside and then crossed his arms to keep warm in the cold, October air.

* * *

He had noticed her glancing at him for at least the first hour. After another half hour of watching other men come up to her just to be shot down, he threw caution to the wind and sidled up beside her. He sat in a chair not too far from where she was sitting with another man-a man who looked entirely too uninterested in her to be a husband or fiancé, he was guessing-and leaned on the back of the chair to say the words he'd been thinking all night, "Ya look too nice foah a place like this."

She was watching the dancers, but when her gaze strayed to him, he was surprised to see she had pretty, grey eyes. "You look too dangerous for a place like this." She told him, her Russian accent thick and accentuated.

He barely caught that quip, the music and crowd of hollering men so loud around them, "Do I?" he asked, scooting his chair closer to hers and stretching out his long legs in front of him. She turned to the side in her seat and rested her arm on the back of her chair to regard him with those large, beautiful eyes.

"Mmm, yes. But you know what?" She asked, leaning closer to him.

"What?" He couldn't help but lean in as well, everything about her somehow mesmerizing him.

Her full lips quirked up in a small smile, "I like danger." And then she pressed her lips against his and he sat there in utter surprise at her forwardness. Jack Kelly had chased his fair share of women, but none had ever made the first move.

"Want to come back to my place?" She asked, her voice breathy and low as he made his way down her neck. Time meant nothing to him and he wasn't sure how long they had been there, in the middle of Irving Hall, kissing. The woman had abandoned her chair for his lap and she clung to his shoulders with small, delicate hands as his own wandered up and down her torso.

"Mhm." He murmured, still running kisses down her neck. The night had taken an unexpected turn, but definitely what he needed right now. He only got one night a week away from Hazel, something he hadn't asked for, but that Mrs. Mclean had insisted on. Now, as the pretty blonde purred with soft moans, he thought perhaps he should get the older woman a very nice gift for watching his daughter.

She turned her head away to say something in Russian to the man she had come here with and Jack bit back a groan at the sexy, thick words rumbled in her throat. Gently, he sucked a spot that made her hiss with pleasure and he pressed his fingers into her hips to attempt to control himself. Her place was definitely too far for what he wanted to do right this second, so he grappled for some patience.

"Come on, big boy." She muttered, pulling him up from his chair and leading him out of the hall.

God, he hadn't realized how tiny she was, barely reaching his shoulder, but he didn't have time to think about that as she stopped to pull his head down for a deep kiss. He found himself pressing her against the closest wall and she pulled back and giggled, "What was your name again?"

"Is that important?" He asked, taking the opportunity to run his hand up her side to gently cup her breast through her blue-green silk gown.

Her eyelids grew heavy over her sparkling grey eyes and he wanted to groan as she didn't stop him from touching her. In fact, she leaned into him, slipping her arms around his neck to purr in his ear, "I only want to know the name to call out when we're in bed." And then she swirled her tongue around his ear before taking the lobe into her mouth.

Jack was in heaven and he groaned and pressed her against the wall harder, "Jack." He somehow managed to get out.

"Jack." She repeated, pulling away, "Let's get that carriage, Jack."

He wasted no time, pulling her through the crowded lobby and out onto the street where he hailed the first carriage he laid eyes on. "Where to?" The carriage driver called as Jack handed her in.

"The Benjamin Hotel." The blonde told him and he repeated it to the driver before he climbed in and then froze on the seat beside her as the carriage lurched forward and she leaned forward for a kiss.

"Hang on, the Benjamin?" He asked, putting his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

She pushed forward anyway, her lips trailing along his jaw as she replied, "Yes, that's where I'm staying."

"We can't go there." He said, without thinking.

The woman paused and pulled back, "Why not? Are you banned?" Her voice lilted up at the end, as if she were making a joke.

"Kinda." His mind raced, wondering why it was that the one woman he had picked up in ages had to be staying at the _one_ place he couldn't exactly go.

She blinked up at him, her grey eyes rounding, "Really?" She asked, "Do tell why."

He rubbed the back of his neck, kind of wishing for his old cowboy hat to fiddle with as he told her, "I cheated on the owner's sister."

Any other woman would have balked at his statement, but he pulled back in surprise as she laughed, her head tossing back as she chortled in amusement, "You _cheated_ on David's sister? Is that why he's such a stick in the mud?"

Jack shook his head, a smile pulling up the corner of his mouth, though it wasn't _really_ something he should laugh about, "Nah, David's always been a stick in the mud. That's just one stinky layer to that onion." He replied, smile widening as he made her laugh again. She had a beautiful laugh, her delicate hand coming up to cover her mouth as she did so, and for a moment he was mesmerized by her. He probably should have asked what her name was.

"That's just Nina's type." She told him, grey eyes dancing in amusement, "She used to like bad boys, would have definitely chosen you out of a crowd, but the last few years her tastes have changed to the fuddy duddy type."

He leaned forward and kissed her neck again, tantalized by the curve there, "I'm glad you picked me out of a crowd." He rumbled against it, not exactly caring what she was talking about or who this Nina was.

"Are you going to break the rules for me?" She sighed, tilting her head to give him better access.

His eyes were caught by the swell of her breasts all but spilling out of her gown and he made that his mouth's goal as he made an affirmative noise before adding, "The end of the world couldn't stop me, sweets."

And before he knew it, their carriage was stopping out front of the hotel and he had to prove to her that he meant it. Ducking his head down, he followed her quickly across the lobby, avoiding eye contact with any late-night workers, and then stepping on the elevator where she gave the bellboy her floor number and brought his head down for a kiss. He grinned against her lips, knowing she'd done it so the bellboy didn't look directly at him, and when the elevator dinged, she pushed him off first before tipping the young man.

"Right." She directed, pulling out her room key. Stopping at her door, she gazed up at him through thick, blonde eyelashes as a slow smile pulled along her lips, "I can't believe you broke the rules for me. What if you get caught?"

He shrugged, "Doesn't matter. Totally worth it." He leaned down to capture her lips once more and she reached behind her to turn the knob and in one quick step back, she had swept him into her hotel room.

After Jack rolled off of her a long time later, they laid there breathing heavily and Natalia rolled over to cuddle up beside him, "That was…" She trailed off, unable to find a word to describe it. She was utterly sated, a relaxed glow humming throughout her whole body. She loved these moments, right after a great time with a sexy man, all tangled in each other's limbs.

"Life changing." He sighed, finishing her sentence before adding, "I can't remember sex ever being that great."

A smug, cat-got-the-mouse smile pulled across her lips and she picked her head up to meet those soft, brown eyes. "Yeah?" She asked, thinking she could get used to this particular man in her bed. Even if he was not her usual type. Not blonde, nor rich judging by the state of his clothes earlier-worn, ill-fitting clothes that were now strewn across her floor. He grinned and it made the scar down his face look a tad comical and she found herself reaching out to trace it, "So, Jack, how'd you get this scar?" She asked, lightly.

Jack reached over her for a pillow and used it to prop himself up a bit, but he wrapped his arms around her and continued to cradle her, "Slept with a married lady. Her husband left me it as a gift."

Natalia let out a low whistle, "Cheated on a lady and slept with a married one. What was I thinking, bringing you back here?"

He shook his head, "Nah, that's not me anymore. I'm a changed man."

"Oh, sure. It's not like I haven't heard that before." She teased. She didn't know why it was so easy to talk to Jack, had liked him the second she'd seen him across Irving Hall, having recognized him from that brief moment they'd made eye contact the day she got to New York. It felt like fate that she had merely glanced up at the Vaudeville show and instantly remembered that scarred, handsome face.

He chuckled, his laugh rumbling in his chest, echoing in her ear, "I'm serious. This comin' home with you is the first crazy thing I've done in a few years." His voice was deep, warm, and it lulled her.

"Well, I'm glad you did." She murmured, "Maybe we can do it again."

She felt him kiss her head, "Same time next week?"

"Mmm, sounds like a plan." She mumbled just as sleep took over.

Somewhere before dawn, he woke her up, "Sweets, I gotta get goin'." The deep, raspy New York accent brought her awake in a lovely way and she stretched her arm out for him.

"Don't go." Natalia whispered in the dark, although she knew he had to go. But, her instincts were telling her this would be the last time she'd see him, that he wouldn't show up next week like they had talked about. That's just what men did to girls like her.

He chuckled lowly and kissed her lightly, "I gotta. I'll see you next week." The words sounded like a promise, but Natalia watched him slip out of her room and she laid there, knowing it was all a lie.

But, she would still go in case this one was different, only she wouldn't let herself hope too much.

 **A/N: Review!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	10. Chapter 10

_September 4_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Nina Darling,_

 _I know I just sent out that last letter, but today I saw the doctor and…well, the time I was given has been cut even shorter. The diagnosis is that I will not see the new century. It both frightens me, and brings me peace. I have been in such pain…_

 _I have been vague in these letters, digging in my heels to tell you the truth because when I write the words and send them to you, I cannot take them back. If anyone discovers the truth, you could lose everything. I do not want that to happen, I want you to be safe, to be financially taken care of after we are gone. I wish I could whisper the words to you so that no one else may know the truth._

 _I cannot write them, yet. Forgive me, darling. I will not pass from this world without telling you the truth, but I'm afraid I can't, yet. Summer is already coming to a close, my_ solnishko _has been gone for too long._

 _Love you, forever and always_

 _Mama_

* * *

The day after Monday night dinner, David took a much-needed break from the hotel and decided to visit Sarah. Growing up, they had been best friends. Even after Les was born, Sarah and he had kept their tight-knit bond, despite the fact that though she was a better student, their parents sent David to school.

He inwardly cringed as his thoughts turned to his school days and he tried to push them away as he stopped in a small toy shop to get something for Peter. His years in school before the newsies were a blur of anxiety and bullying. Everything before making friends with Jack had felt like overwhelming loneliness and constant stress to not disappoint his family. He scowled down at a small sailboat toy and chose it from the others. After paying for it, he crossed town to Sarah's apartment that sat above her husbands' bakery.

"David!" She greeted as she opened the door, brown eyes dark and glittering with a happiness that lifted his mood. "Peter!" She called out, "Arthur. Uncle Davey is here!"

Screaming could be heard as the two boys came barreling out of their shared room, tumbling over each other to get to David first and he grunted as they ran for his legs, colliding into him and latching on as though for dear life. "Uncle Davey!" Arthur screamed at him, as though he didn't know his own name.

Rolling his eyes, David reached down to ruffle the oldest kids' hair. Arthur resembled his father, Sarah's husband Edward, to a startling degree; his hair the same auburn, eyes a bright hazel, and a spattering of freckles in a lined cluster across his cheeks and nose like the milky way galaxy across the night sky. David was a tad partial to the little boy, who complained often to Sarah of the neighborhood kids teasing him about his freckles. "Hey, Artie." David murmured, "How ya been, kid?" Arthur didn't reply, just beamed up at David in the way Les used to look at Jack. It was another reason he tended to favor the little boy.

"Uncah Da-ey!" Peter had just turned two, was only just forming words you could understand, and David couldn't help the smile as he tried to say his name. Peter took after his mother's side of the family, with dark hair and big, brown eyes that matched Sarah's to a tee.

"Happy birthday, Peter. Sorry I missed it. But, I brought you something." He handed the toy to the two-year-old, watching as he ripped the paper bag open to get to it, Arthur helping him and both yelling in excitement as though it was both their birthdays.

They went running off to play with it and he turned to see Sarah watching them, smiling brightly as they played together, "Thank you, David. He was kind of disappointed when you didn't show." She said it softly, so the kids didn't hear, and then turned to meet David's gaze, "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please." David replied, feelinga bit chastised, "And I'm sorry. The hotel's just been so busy…"

Sarah nodded placing the tea kettle on the wood burning stove, and smiled, "Yes, the Russian Ballet. Tell me all about the ballerinas." They sat down at the kitchen table, the kids laughter and excitement at the small, penny sailboat rolling across the floorboards seemed like background music that soothed David just a bit. It was familiar, this homey apartment, which always smelled of baked goods from Ed's bakery, like a echo of his childhood. Before Les was born, it was just him and Sarah, playing with anything they didn't get yelled at for playing with. Sarah, always the imaginative one, creating endless stories for them to act out.

He felt a sudden stab of longing for something like this of his own, despite that he had an entire hotel, a huge, profitable business to look after and grow. "The ballerina's practice long hours." He told Sarah, "They leave at dawn to go to the theater and barely come back before night…the Prima Ballerina is usually gone for twelve hours."

"Prima Ballerina. That's the head ballerina?" Sarah asked.

David nodded, "Nina Teleshova."

Sarah smiled as he said her name, catching something he did not, "What does her file say about her, David?"

He jerked his head up, surprised, "How do you know I have a file on her?" He asked, curious.

Laughing, his sister stood up as the water boiled and placed the tea in it to steep as she brought down two teacups. "I've known you your entire life David. You like things a certain way. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a file on your nephews."

David watched Sarah move gracefully around the kitchen, unsure why he was surprised she picked up on so much about him. For as astute as he could be, he'd never really turned it on his family members. Perhaps in the last few years, he had begun taking them for granted. Reflecting on that, he sighed and replied, "Her file has everything I need to know."

"Oh, I doubt that." Sarah's quick answering comment caught him off guard.

"What do you mean?" David asked as she set the tea cup in front of him along with a plate of cookies and then sat across from him.

Her brown eyes looked at him over her tea cup as she blew on it to cool it. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." She finally said, as if she were making a decision not to explain because he wouldn't understand it. "But, tell me, what does Jack's file say?"

He choked on the hot tea and sputtered at the sudden mention of Jack Kelly. "What?"

Amusement glittered in her eyes, "Is it a thick folder? Did you write big, black letters spelling 'ADULTERER' on it? Do you have photographs and did you rip the photographs so his head was no longer attached to his body?" She laughed as he stared at her in astonishment. "C'mon, David, you can't still be mad at him? He was your best friend. You two won the strike together."

His astonishment turned to a scowl, " _Was_ my best friend and you can't honestly tell me you've forgiven him after what he did."

Sarah shook her head, but not in denial, but rather as though she were ashamed of his question, "David, of course I've forgiven him. How could I hold it against him when what he did ended up bringing me here, to this bakery, where I met Edward and we fell in love? If Jack hadn't cheated, we would have married each other and been miserable because truthfully, the excitement of the strike was the only reason we were together."

She paused, as though gauging his reaction as she told him, "I went to visit Jack about a month ago. To settle things with him, to let him know there were no hard feelings on my end. To get closure. Perhaps, you need to do the same."

David stood, feeling cornered, blindsided, and angry that Sarah could forgive him so easily. "You guys were not together just because of the strike and he _cheated_ on you. Had a bastard to some other lady." The words were harsher than he meant them, and he took a step back as Sarah's face flushed and she stood up, too.

"That's _enough_ , David. Hazel is a sweet girl, not a bastard, and I'm beginning to think that you had this idea in your mind that we would marry and he'd officially be the brother you wanted and the reason you're so angry at him is because now that future can never be. This isn't about me. This is about you and what _you_ lost. This is about your anger at him for betraying you." Her shoulders sagged as she finished her tirade and her voice softened, "Jack was young and selfish, he didn't think about anyone but himself. Now, he has Hazel to think about. He apologized for how he ended things with me and I think now, he'd apologize to you as well. If you'd let him."

David clenched his jaw and looked away from his sister, "I lost Minnie. She died in my arms and our future together blinked out of existence…I can't forgive him for doing that to you."

Sarah moved over to hug him, one of the few people who had known of Minnie and his love for her, "Jack and I never had a future, we both knew it. Edward was always my destiny. Perhaps, Minnie wasn't your destiny, either. Her death shaped you into the man you need to be for your real destiny."

He scoffed, "Destiny. What a bunch of nonsense."

Sarah laughed and pulled away, "Bunch of hooey to you now but you won't be calling it nonsense when you realize you've found it."

He rolled his eyes but felt the tension leave his shoulders as he searched his sister's face, "You always were smarter than me."

She smiled, "Don't I know it. Unfortunately, they could only afford to send you to school."

Grinning, he caught a glimpse of the clock and sighed, "I need to get back, but I'll visit more. I promise." He wasn't sure why, but after he left he felt slightly lighter, as though he'd needed to hear Sarah forgive Jack in order for him to think about doing the same.

Just perhaps not right away.

* * *

 _ **October 30**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 1907**_

The day before the Ballet's opening night, David was heading back to the Benjamin after running some errands when his eyes caught on a pair of deep, blue silk slippers that reminded him of Nina's eyes. They were flats, which he thought would be more comfortable than the heeled slippers that were popular, but couldn't be comfortable for a ballerina who spent all that time on her feet. Without really thinking it through, he walked into the shoe shop and purchased them, tucking the brown bag beneath his arm.

Inwardly, he reasoned that on opening night she would probably get bombarded with useless flowers and chocolates, neither one being what a dancer of her caliber needed. What she would need…his mind raced. What would he need if he spent hours dancing on stage in front of hundreds of people? Stopping in a couple shops, he bought a few other things before heading back to his suite, piling the items on his desk along with the basket he bought before taking his time arranging it all.

It was vaguely therapeutic, placing the fruits just so, the slippers propped up against them and the bottle cradled right in the center. Lastly, he wrapped it up in a silk bag, adding the paper tag to the ribbon before tying it shut. He had thought long and hard about what to write before settling with a simple message.

He pulled on the bell cord that signaled service and waited for Jake Miller to knock on his door, "Jake, this basket is to be delivered to Nina Teleshova's dressing room _after_ her opening night show tomorrow. Clear?"

Jake nodded, "Yes, sir."

Satisfied, David went about his work, not necessarily avoiding Nina since the dinner Monday, but not really seeking her out, either. He was aware he felt something for her, but pursuing women had never come naturally to him, so instead of doing something about it, he found it easier to do nothing.

However, come opening night, he found his anxiety building before the show. He had learned over the years how to contain it, but tonight it felt as though it was nudging him in her direction. Slipping back stage, ignoring the ballerina's and stage hands running around, he headed toward the rooms set aside for the principal dancers.

He spied a door with her name on it and made a beeline for it as a voice interrupted him as he raised a hand to knock, "You can't see her before the show, she never talks to anyone before the show." The man told David, his English heavy with a Russian accent, his tone haughty and reproving. David recognized Sergei Legat, the male equivalent of Prima, as he leaned against the wall not too far from David and there was something about him that rubbed David the wrong way. He immediately disliked him, and not only because the man seemed to exude the same arrogance that Jack and Spot used to-liked they owned the world. He looked even more ridiculous doing it in those tight ballet pants.

There was also something about the man-some deep-seated anger or wrongness that David's gut was warning him of. It wasn't anything David could put into words.

But, David ignored him and his obvious holier-than-thou act. It was, afterall, _David_ who had grown up to own an empire. Not any of the 'powerful' boys he'd known as a newsie. Let anyone try David Jacobs now. He wasn't the Walking Mouth anymore, not the doormat who let others take his ideas and run with them. He was a force to be reckoned with and he sure as hell wasn't letting this preening peacock stand in his way. "If she doesn't answer, I'll leave." He told him, eyes narrowed on the stranger in tights as he knocked on the door.

It opened after a moment, revealing Nina with a controlled, cold look as she looked prepared to tell off whoever disturbed her until she pulled up short at the sight of him, "David." She accidentally let the angry look fall to smile up at him and then she paused as she caught Sergei standing just beyond. Scowl reforming on her face, she said, "Mr. Jacobs, please come in."

David stepped around her, unintentionally shooting Sergei a smug look, the male ballerina's face contorting to fury as Nina shut the door in his face. "Sorry if I'm disturbing you." He said, awkwardly as he looked around her small room, cluttered with clothes, flowers, and a table full of make up.

Nina waved away his apology, "It's alright, I like privacy before the show because I'm nervous enough without the other ballerina's wishing me good luck."

David tilted his head, "Is that a bad thing?"

"It's theater superstition. Bad luck to wish a person good luck. The first time they did it to me during my first big show in Saint Petersburg, I messed up my solo dance scene. It was awful, the ballet master demoted me to understudy for a month." She paused and then met his gaze, "Anyway, this is a surprise."

He felt his cheeks heat up just a touch, "Well, I came to wish you good luck, but now I'm not sure what to wish you."

She chuckled, a deep throaty one that turned David hot, "Wish me bad luck, then."

Nodding, he glanced at the clock in her room, realizing the show would start soon, and then reached out to pat her arm, "I didn't realize how close it was to show time. So, uh, bad luck out there…maybe break a leg?"

She laughed again at his well wishes and he turned to the door to leave, surprised as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "David, wait." He half-turned to meet those eyes that had been haunting him, "Thank you. It means a lot to know someone's out there rooting for me."

"Everyone's out there rooting for you." He said, thinking of all of his friends out there, already taking their seats.

She grinned at him and for a moment they just smiled at each other. He felt a shift between them and her eyes began to flutter shut as she leaned up towards him, her head tilting just so…

The knock interrupted what might have become a kiss, Natalia's voice loud, though muffled as she half said and half sang out, "Oooohhh, Prima Nina. Your time to shine is about to begin." She turned the handle and David and Nina both stepped back as she swung the door open. "Oh." Natalia murmured, grey eyes going wide as she caught the two of them, "Am I interrupting something?"

David shook his head, jaw clenching as he felt his cheeks heat up again and he nodded to both of them, "Excuse me, ladies." Awkwardly, he slid passed Natalia, the tiny blonde looking skeptically between the two as he quickly headed back to the box that he had reserved for his entire group.

He took his seat in between Race and Vivian just as the lights lowered. Vivian leaned over, "How's Nina? Nervous?" She whispered to him, her sky-blue eyes sparkling as they flickered over his red face.

"Shh, it's starting." Was his reply, unable to meet her eyes directly as the curtains rose up and _Les millions d'Arlequin_ began.

 **A/N: the 'break a leg' term has no real origin and doesn't become widely used until 1920, so I thought it'd be fun if David coined it! ^.^ Hope everyone reading is enjoying! Please drop me a review!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	11. Chapter 11

_October 18_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Nina,_

 _I miss you. Have I said that enough in these letters? I love you as well, always. I do not go a day without missing you. I feel as though all my time is spent missing those lost to me, you, Carmen, her son, though I never met him, my parents, the child I lost, and even, at times, your father._

 _I feel the disease eating away at my energy, at my muscles and organs. Gabriel tells me I'm only imagining it, that it is hopelessness at my inability to get better. But, I still feel it. I am once again changing, as humans do-though they fight it every step of the way. This time, though, I am changing for the end, ready for a metamorphosis that no one alive can know. I feel it in my bones, in my soul. I wish to hear your voice before I go, but I fear I must contend with the echoes of it from my memory. I am sorry that this particular letter is full of melancholy. You are, and always will be, my solnishko. Even after I pass, I will look for a warmth that can rival yours. Do not let that warmth go, dearheart. Let it shine, let others bask in it._

 _Love,_

 _Mama_

* * *

Nina did love dancing, she always had. Since the first show her mother took her to when she was eight years old. It became a near obsession and when the opportunity to audition for the company came up when she was nine, she tried out and was accepted. Except for a brief stint back home when she was sixteen, she never looked back. After her parents died and she found herself alone, orphaned, the company was still there. Her traveling home.

She was not always celebrated by others, her ankles were weaker than most ballerinas, her limbs far longer than the short, more compact girls that were preferred for this era of dance. Marius Petipa, a director of many famous Russian ballet's, always told her she had the form and grace of the romantic ballet's and the great ballerinas of old. Despite her challenges, the public grew to love her fragile, ethereal look as she danced across the stage. She worked harder than any of the others, passion and love of dancing evident in each movement.

After the show, she went straight to her dressing room and collapsed on the small sofa, exhausted and looking forward to being back in her hotel room. The energy and excitement from the entire company could be heard, even with the door shut, and the pop of a champagne bottle went off along with cheers. They would party hard tonight.

But, not Nina. Before being made Prima she went to cast parties with Natalia, her presence ignored at best. She wasn't sure why she couldn't really make friends, why most assumed her to be cold and indifferent, as she had heard Clara mention at Monday night dinner. She tried to be warm and friendly, but it didn't come easy to her the way it did to Natalia, who could charm a hungry bear. And after being made a principal dancer, after her fans grew to adore her, the other cast members met her with nothing but hostility-begrudging the fame she worked so hard for.

Sighing, she undid her pointe shoes, grimacing at the sight of her feet. Red and swollen, they ached and bled. Gingerly, she dressed out of her Columbine costume and into a simple dress, forgoing the corset that she didn't have the energy or patience to get into and slipped on a pair of shoes. Grabbing her coat, she was just getting ready to head back to the hotel when she pulled up short as her door opened and slammed shut, Natalia standing there with a stormy look on her face.

Cursing in a myriad of Russian words, Nina took a step back from her best friend as she went on a tirade about some man.

Natalia was sweet as cream ninety eight percent of the time. Most did not believe that she had a temper and when it got fired up she had a mouth to rival any sailor. Nina felt a touch of sympathy for her as she caught the gist of it. "Did you sleep with another married man, Nat?" She asked, gently. The tiny blonde halted, turning dark, grey eyes on Nina and then, as suddenly as her anger was there, it was gone and she gave her a bleak look and nodded. Slowly, Nina walked over and hugged her friend, "What have I told you about wearing your heart on your sleeve?"

"Not to." Natalia mumbled, "But, he wasn't my usual type. I thought he was different. He said he was different…"

Nina stroked her hair, "That's what all men say." She murmured, thinking of David. He'd never claimed to be different, but his uninterested interest in her was disconcerting and confusing. First, he avoided her for four days, and then showed up before the show to wish her good luck.

Natalia pulled away and gave Nina a sad, half smile, "Maybe next time I won't fall for it."

Nina squeezed her arm gently, willing her strength to toughen up her friend who was always falling for guys so easily, and returned her smile with a bright one, "Go, have fun at the cast party. I'm going to head home."

The blonde grinned, "I'll have one of the Benjamin boys bring your flowers to the room. That way they don't clog up your dressing area."

Nina looked around, surprised. She had barely noticed any of the flowers, roses and lilies, orchids and sunflowers. She almost despised getting them because it seemed such a waste to watch them pile up and die. "Thanks…maybe tell them to keep them to decorate the lobby. Just collect the notes off the arrangements."

"Yes, m'am…" She paused and quickly hugged Nina one more time as she said, "You did great tonight."

Love and appreciation for Natalia overwhelmed her and she squeezed her friend before they separated, "Thank you, you were wonderful as well. The best Good Fairy ever."

After making sure Natalia went off to have fun with the cast rather than moping about some man, Nina made her way back to the Benjamin. Part of her had hoped she'd see her new friends after the show, but the lobby was quiet as she crossed it to the elevators and silently continued up to her floor. She paused as she got off, listening towards the direction of David's room but heard no sounds. Sighing, she opened her door and stepped into it, pausing to deposit her key on the table just inside.

In the foyer of the suite there was a fireplace with a couch and two arm chairs, behind the couch was a table and the object on it caught her eyes as she turned on the electric lights that the hotel was equipped with.

Surprised there would already be a gift for her here at the hotel, Nina took a hesitant step towards it, hand reaching out as she saw a small note attached to it. Flipping it over, her mouth fell open as she read the small, neat scrawl _'Nina, great job tonight. -David'_.

That was it.

She flipped it over, looking for more writing, but she knew the other side was blank. Hesitantly, she pulled the ribbon and the silk bag fell down around the basket, the contents displayed perfectly. Upfront touching toe to toe were a pair of soft, deep blue silk slippers, hung almost carelessly-but very purposefully-around a bottle of _Hrenovuha_ , an expensive and delectable vodka not often found outside of Russia. To fill the basket and surround the main gifts were a variety of mouthwatering, ripe fruit. She all but salivated over the fruit basket, amazed at the thoughtfulness put into it.

Nina found herself surprised, too, at the insight the basket gave her to the man who'd sent it. David clearly was a man concerned with needs, not wants. He knew after a night spent on her feet dancing, that she'd want something soft and comfortable to slip into, a bottle of vodka to relax with, and fruit. Fruit was the one food she was allowed to eat an unlimited amount of. The company required their ballerinas to eat lightly, to keep their graceful forms fit for dancing.

What he didn't know was that giving this gift gave her the confidence that he was interested. Perhaps, he wasn't a smooth-talking charmer like the myriad of men who had gone after her. In which case, she decided, this one time she might have to be the charmer, the pursuer, and David Jacobs was her prey.

* * *

"She's safely in her room." Carlos murmured lowly to David. They were standing in front of the Benjamin, the night air cold, the ground strewn with fallen leaves, and David regarded his hotel with a touch of pride as he gazed up towards the top floor, where the creature resided that he had been thinking of almost exclusively. Especially after her performance this evening. The way she had artfully moved on stage had completely and utterly enchanted him. The basket he had sent to her now felt inadequate in response to the beauty of her dancing.

If he hadn't completely given in to the idea that he was attracted to her before tonight, he most certainly believed it now. What was worse, he kept thinking inappropriate thoughts about her long, lithe legs and the way she moved…

Shaking his head and feeling as though Carlos could read his thoughts, he nodded toward the former skip trace and replied, "Thanks, Fuentes. Anything else?"

Briefly, the Spaniard looked as though he was going to saying something, thought better of it, and instead reached into his pocket to pull out a small, wrinkled piece of paper no bigger than his hand. "I scrounged around in the trash and found this. Not sure what room it came from, but thinking it has something to do with the break-in."

"The trash?" David asked, surprised at the length Carlos would go to investigate something before remembering the man used to do much worse and for more than money. He used to use his finding skills in order to keep himself alive. Gently, David unfolded the paper and his eyes quickly skimmed over the angrily written words, the threat and motive becoming clear. The date on the top was two weeks ago, before the break-in, on October 17th. The deadline for the box was tonight.

 _You putrid excuse for a human being. You've had weeks to look for what I asked and still you dig your heels in. If you won't do it, I'll hire someone else. Are you really going to let her treat you like a piece of shit? You are not the man I thought you were. You're just as pathetic as she thinks._

 _Get me that box. Before the end of the month. Or I'll break your feet and you'll never dance again._

 _G. T._

David felt a thrill of fear for Nina, remembering the lacquer box in her nightstand, "Was there any sort of box in Natalia's room when you searched?"

Carlos' unnerving blue eyes were watching David for any reaction, "A jewelry box."

"Nina had a box in her nightstand, with letters. Which is more likely?" David knew the answer, but his gut was telling him this was about more than jewels. More than gems and necklaces. This felt pointed, directed, and everything on the surface led towards Natalia, but he trusted his gut more than the outward signs. This was aimed at Nina.

Shifting, Carlos ran a hand along his mouth, deciding before he spoke, "How about you go up there to Nina, and I'll head back to Natalia at the cast party. Perhaps…perhaps I can find out who is behind it with everyone in their cups."

David straightened, feeling a strange, sort-of connection to the man beside him. Carlos was too much of an enigma for them to be best friends, but they shared a lot of common interests. He knew the man loved Sophie, but the lengths the man was going made him wonder what it was about Nina that drew a protective look over Carlos' face. "Send word as soon as possible."

They parted ways without another word. David glanced back and wasn't surprised to see that Carlos had already disappeared, blending into the night like a phantom. Entering the hotel, David made a beeline for the elevators, lifting a hand to Jake at the front desk, and continuing up to his floor.

The ding of the elevator sounded loud on the top floor, and he pulled his key out as he went to his door, feeling as though someone was watching him. He glanced up and down the hall, but he was alone. He went into his suite, tossing his coat on the chaise inside, setting his keys on the small table by the door. Loosening his tie, he figured if he was going to babysit Nina's room tonight, he might as well get comfortable first.

He'd just finished up washing his face when a _tap, tap, tap_ sounded on his door. He hadn't rung the service bell, so he cautiously moved towards the door and peered through the peephole. Surprise was too weak of a word to describe what he felt, and he held his breath as he opened the door.

Nina stood there, leaning on the wall, the bottle of vodka cradled in the arm that held two glasses. She was dressed in something that was not quite a dress and not quite a night gown, but soft-looking and in a shade somewhere between purple and blue, the slippers from her basket peeking out from the bottom hem of the outfit. Her hair was down, brushed out, and she looked not at all like a lady should.

But, she did look exquisite.

He gulped as she stepped toward him. Unconsciously, he took a step back and then felt a ripple of awareness as he accidentally gave her enough space to move passed him and into the suite.

"My father always told me it was impolite not to share vodka." She all but purred as she swept into the room. He didn't miss the accentuated rock of her hips, or the determination lit in her sapphire, blue eyes. He caught a whiff of her perfume as she glided passed him, the heat of her body close for a split second, and he closed his eyes briefly at how good she smelled. A scent both velvety and with a hint of spice. Perhaps a note of peaches. Shaking his head of the scent, he opened his eyes as she spoke from the table behind the sofa, where she had set the glasses and was opening the bottle. "I thought it only fair I share it with you."

David Jacobs suddenly felt as though he'd let a lynx in his room and she was very much on the prowl. Slowly, he shut the door behind him, aware he was making himself the only prey around.

 **A/N: Review, please!**


	12. Chapter 12

_November 5_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _Nina,_

 _Today is Carlos' birthday. I have no way to contact him since he moved from his mother's apartment, but I wish with every bit of my being that I could be there to celebrate with him. I've no idea what has become of him since her death, how that little boy has grown up an orphan, lost on the streets of New York. Alone. I do not even know if she ever told him…_

 _But, it is time I tell you. In case you ever wish to seek him out. The time between the two of you is two years. After I succumbed to Charles Rennall's, his interest in me dissipated, especially once he met Carmen. Left pregnant and unwed, I chose to marry for convenience rather than face the wrath of society. Your father had long been in love with me, so I accepted his marriage proposal-after I told him of my situation._

 _You need to know that, Nina. He knew you were not his even before I agreed to marry him, and still he wanted us. This is not something that happens often, and I do not want you to forget how Gabriel Teleshova_ chose us _. For that, and a million other reasons, he will always be your father. Just not your real father._

 _My secret is yours now._

 _Love,_

 _Mama_

* * *

The anticipation, the thrill of the hunt, sizzled up Nina's spine as she handed David his glass and met his ice blue eyes over the rim of her own. She sized him up, taking in the rolled-up sleeves, the loosened tie. He had been getting comfortable when she knocked, his shoes kicked off near the door, his hair a little mussed as though he'd run a hand through it. Seeing him so disheveled was…empowering. David Jacobs was vulnerable and Nina wanted to take advantage of him. Wanted him to realize he wanted her, to meet finally in the middle of this little dance they'd been doing around each other the last three weeks.

He held the glass out to her, "To your incredible performance this evening."

She smiled, clinking her glass to his and watching as he sipped at the vodka. She gave him credit, he swallowed the liquor like a champ. It was a smooth vodka, but so strong that she'd seen her fair share of men spit it out in surprise.

"Thank you, for the slippers." She told him, lifting the skirt of her nightgown to show off her feet. "And the bottle and fruit." Nina added, watching as her gratitude flustered him.

He shook his head, waving it away with the hand that was still holding the glass of vodka, "No thanks necessary."

She moved around the sofa to lounge back on the settee near the fire place, "So, David, why the hotel business?"

David sized her up and she felt a thrill. She could see him deciding whether to tell her the truth or turn the conversation around. Finally, he settled on the truth as he walked over to the fireplace and braced one arm on the mantle, "I guess…I like taking care of people. Giving them somewhere to rest as they pass through. It's not home, but it's close enough until they get there." He paused and turned his head to look at her, "Why ballet?"

She felt a pinch of sadness, thinking of how he phrased it. People passing through, no one staying. It sounded awful and lonely. "My mother took me to the ballet when I was eight. It was love at first sight. She hired a dance instructor and when the tour came back around, I auditioned and got in. Dancing is hard work, but I'm good at it and to see how much people enjoy it…it's my life." Nina stopped as she realized what she said. Dancing was her life, especially since her parents died. How sad was it that it was all she had?

The hotelier shrugged, "I've spent every day of the last seven years here in this hotel. Most people would say it's my life."

"Aren't we a pair?" She mused, eyes trailing over his tense shoulders, down his lean physique, pausing for a moment to appreciate his backside. She tore her gaze away as he moved, wondering if he caught her appreciative glance but surprised when he stepped over to where she lounged on the chaise. His eyebrows were drawn low, his frosty eyes snagging on her feet as though he were wondering something and wasn't sure why. "Go on, Mr. Jacobs. Ask me whatever's on your mind."

Her words were throatier than she meant them to be, but the deepness seemed to catch his attention and he met her gaze, a look of concern on his face as he asked, "How are your feet after tonight?"

They were sore, still bleeding, and they ached as they always did after she danced, but she wasn't ready to tell him that. Instead, she pulled her legs closer to her, as much to protect herself as it was to pull them from his reach, and she felt a touch playful as she told him, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

A stark look of surprise flashed over his face and then he took a step back, "Never mind then."

The sudden closed expression paired with his retreat caught her interest at once and she tucked her feet under her as she rose up on her knees, "Oh, Mr. Jacobs, what a tease. Whatever could be wrong with your feet?"

His eyes shifted away as he replied, "Nothing. I just don't think this is very appropriate."

Nina latched onto his shiftiness, aware that meant he was most definitely hiding something, "Very prudish, David." She told him, switching to the informal and watching as it caught his attention, a spike of heat melting those icy irises. "Come now, you don't have to hide from little old me." She all but purred those words at him, slinking to stand in front of him, inwardly relishing that she had to gaze up at him. As the tallest ballerina in the company, she was not used to gazing up at others. But, she found she liked how he towered her, made her feel petite and delicate.

He was still tense, and she longed to soothe him, to see him relaxed and unguarded. It suddenly became clear to her that David Jacobs was her new goal in life. She reached out to smooth a hand over his shoulder, as if she were simply brushing away a bit of dirt, "Are you really not going to show me something as innocent as your feet?" She asked, returning her eyes to his, her hand sliding down his bicep to pause lightly on his forearm. Despite not being the laborer type, muscles twitched beneath her hand.

A spike of satisfaction shot up her spine as he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing as his pupils dilated just a bit, the black thinning the cool blues. "Y-you don't really want to see my feet." He said, his words just a tad breathy. It hadn't been obvious on Monday night, but it was clear here and now that she had an effect on him.

She gave him a smug smile, "Oh, yes, David. I do."

He shifted, and she thought he would pull away, but he was suddenly bending his knee to grab ahold of his sock and pull it off. First the right foot, then the left, tossing the socks over her head and towards where his shoes were kicked off, "Alright." He said, both of them looking down at his feet as he wiggled his toes into the soft, plush carpet, "Challenge accepted." It was his turn to look smug.

"Hang on. I need to see both feet entirely. Sit." She told him, knowing there had to be a reason he had been gun shy about the initial teasing. She nudged his shoulder, pointing to the couch.

He rolled his eyes, but there was a light behind them as he sighed and sat on the couch. She couldn't help herself, she sat down beside him and gestured for him to bring his feet up on the couch, "Do you have a foot fetish or something?" He grumbled, clearly without thinking, and then a blush crept over his face as he realized what he'd said to her, "I apologize. I'm not in the company of women very often."

Nina hid her satisfaction at his disclosure as he put his feet on her lap and she saw what it was he had hidden, "Is this…a chicken? On your foot?" She stared at the small, inked creature on the bottom of his right foot, the black outline of it a tad jagged, as though the person who did it did so with an unsteady hand. She reached out a finger to trace where it was, on the soft, curved instep of his foot and he jerked as though she'd tickled him.

Her head shot up as he tried to move his foot away, but she held fast as their eyes met and she was surprised that he was staring at her rather defiantly, "It's not a chicken." He told her, blue eyes returning to the iciness he used as a defense, "It's a rooster. Sailors get them tattooed on their foot when they survive a shipwreck. Or, 'a cock on the right, never lose a fight.' But, that one doesn't really apply to me, because I've lost quite a few fights since I got it and even in arguments I manage to stick my foot in my mouth. Got insulted and screamed at by a woman I thought was mute."

It was such a statement, she didn't know where to begin. "Did you survive a shipwreck?" She asked, figuring she'd start with the first thing her mind had grabbed on.

David shrugged, his leg relaxing as he knocked back the rest of the vodka in his glass and she realized she'd forgotten he was even holding it-that her own was on the end table by the chaise. "Not really." She tilted her head and held his gaze, silently urging him to tell her his secrets. He held her gaze, their staring contest turning heated as it lengthened before, finally, he sighed and set his empty glass on the table, "Uh, I met a sailor…in this tavern in Brooklyn…after." He blew out an irritated breath and stood, putting distance between them and moving back to the mantle where he tilted his head back to gaze at the painting above the fireplace.

"After what?" She asked, standing as she noticed his tenseness. David was about to reveal something big to her, she could feel it, thick in the air like the humid days of summer in Paris. David Jacobs, the reclusive, enigmatic hotelier was going to tell her something she didn't think anyone else knew. Her whole body began to hum in anticipation.

He cast her a sideways look, and she was surprised at the underlying bleakness, a sadness at whatever he was about to tell her, "After…Minny died." She ignored the stab of jealousy at another woman's name, but he continued before she could dwell on it, "I met this sailor and we drank together and talked and he told me…told me 'Listen, kid, ya might not be a sailor, but ya currently survivin' ya own shipwreck. I know just how ta help ya.'" His rough, imitating accent on the sailor's words made Nina wince at the mocking and for a moment it annoyed her until she realized he didn't mean for it to be funny. The derisive tone had been entirely unintentional, as though he didn't realize he was being haughty, and her annoyance was quickly replaced by a spike of affection as he finished his story, "And I was drunk, so I followed him to this small shop where he pulled out a needle and some ink and he gave me that rooster. Hurt like the devil…but it gave me physical pain to keep me from dwelling on her death."

Nina watched him, his face still in profile as he gazed up at the painting. It was a nice painting, the colors shades of blue, gray and black, maybe depicting a dark city street, but nothing was really defined. Shadows and light, no specific shapes or objects. It was as mysterious as the man she was with, "A mute woman yelled at you?" She finally asked, hoping that was safe because she wasn't sure how she felt about him being entirely devastated at another woman's death. Not that there was anything she could have done about it, given it happened before they had even met.

The corner of his mouth twitched, "Yeah. I was kind of an ass…I'm lucky she didn't slap me. And technically, her husband was the mute, she just didn't like me."

"Didn't like you?" Nina gasped, her sarcasm light and teasing, "Who couldn't like David Jacobs?"

His head turned and she was suddenly caught up in his blue eyes that had once more warmed. "A lot of people don't like me." He said, softly, turning away from the painting to look her full in the face, holding her gaze as though he were afraid she'd disappear. A thrill of electricity shot up her spine and she realized if she didn't turn away, she might end up doing something she may regret.

Nina, for all her teasing and flirting with rich, powerful admirers, never let any of them win her. Knew if she did let a man win her, that she would see their interest wane and snuff out like a candle in a storm. So, she teased them just enough until she could slip away-whether it was leaving a party or leaving the city-and they were left awed by her mysteriousness. Never knowing the woman underneath.

And while she had come here with the intention of wrapping David Jacobs around her finger, she was a little alarmed to find it was perhaps she who would be wrapped around his. Now was the time to retreat and re-fortify her defenses.

So, she turned away from his steady gaze, which had never looked at her as though she were a mystery to be answered, but rather with the interest of a man who wanted to understand her. It was too much for tonight. Reaching over, she picked up her glass and downed the rest of her vodka, "Well, I guess I should be going." She began, her back to him as she prepared her escape.

"Nina?"

"Mr. Jacobs?" She replied, turning her head to look at him from the corner of her eye.

He walked passed her to where his jacket hung on the coat rack and he reached into a hidden pocket on the left side and extricated a folded-up map of New York City. When he turned back to her, his expression was closed and he looked just the faintest embarrassed. "I know you'll be busy…" He shuffled a step closer, but left about a foot between them, "But, I found this when looking for clues when the break-in happened and I thought…maybe I could take you to a couple of the places marked."

Slowly, her brain began to catch up to his words and she hesitantly took the map when he held it out and opened it to find it was _her_ map, the one she had marked at dinner two and a half weeks ago, "I thought I lost this in the move." She murmured, tracing her finger over one of the inked stars, before she looked up at him through her eye lashes as she felt a small smile curve up her lips, "You want to show me around the city, Mr. Jacobs?"

"If no one else has offered." He hurriedly said, looking more bashful and adorable by the minute.

Nina dropped her eyes to the map, not even mad he'd taken it, only warmed by his offer, "Yes, I'd like that. I don't have to be at practice on Sundays." She told him, pressing the map to her heart as she once more lifted her eyes to him.

"Sunday it is." He confirmed, before he waved his arm towards the door, "You must be exhausted, I shouldn't keep you any longer."

She let him walk her to the door, but as he opened it and smiled softly down at her, she knew she couldn't leave it at this. She wanted David to think about this night until Sunday, wanted him to be unable to work as he was too consumed with thoughts of her. With that thought in mind, she grabbed him by his shirt front and pulled his lips down to hers.

Her entire world went up in flames.

Despite the fact that he didn't respond right away due to the surprise kiss, his lips on hers sent thrills of heat and molten lava throughout her body. His surprise didn't last long and his reaction had to be on the same level as hers because suddenly his hands were on her waist and he was pulling her against his body as though he had no self-control. She treasured that heady thought as his tongue slid along her bottom lip and she accidentally let out a tiny moan as she opened her mouth wider. David Jacobs was a _good_ kisser. Her hands ran through his dark hair, enjoying the softness of his curls and the way he groaned deep in his throat when she raked her nails along his scalp.

But, Nina had to pull away, to break the kiss off. She needed the upper hand if she was going to survive this seduction. Grudgingly, she trailed her hands from his hair, over his shoulders to rest on his chest as she softly pushed him back a step. His eyes half opened as his chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, and he gazed down at her with blue eyes dark with need and want.

Others had only looked at her as though she were a creature from mythology; unreal and mysterious.

David made her feel like a full-blooded woman, like he could spend the whole night with her and still want her again in the morning. And afternoon. If she stayed in this doorway any longer, she knew she would pull a Natalia and let him prove her right.

But, Nina couldn't let him do that. She couldn't think of the reasons why, just knew in her gut that it couldn't happen… _yet_. "See you Sunday." Her voice was deep and throaty, causing his eyes to look at her hotly as she stepped back out of reach. She felt those hot eyes on her the entire walk to her door just a few yards down the hall.

She glanced back once, right before entering her room, and she swore she caught a promise in his gaze. A promise that this wasn't over.

She had caught her prey.

 **A/N: Writing is going slow thanks to school and a semester long group project that might force me to reconsider why I could possibly need a Master's degree when all I really want is to write newsie fics...anywho, wondering if anyone beside WordyAF is still reading this series? I mean, I'm going to keep writing it either way, you might as well tell me what you like and dislike about it in a review! :)**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	13. Chapter 13

_December 7_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _My darling Nina,_

 _I suppose I thought with the secret out, your anger would melt and you would forgive me and write back…Well, you always were a hard one to hold onto. I don't know how you grew up so untrusting of others to stick around when your father and I have always been there. Perhaps, some part of you knew that your real father left you in the womb and you came out ready to push everyone away before they, too, could leave._

 _I love you, my solnishko. There is much to say and no real time left. Please, Nina, once I'm gone and you're grown up…please, give people a chance. Let the ones that want to stay, stay. Stop testing their mettle with your barbs and ice. Let them make mistakes and forgive them. In the end, the only one it hurts is you. When you fall in love again, know that it's alright to fight, but don't intentionally push him away. If he loves you, he'll fight even you to stay._

 _I will love you into the unknown, my dearest daughter. Know that. And know that I do not begrudge you this year of silence. I hold onto and cherish every memory we had before this. Do not beat yourself up about it. I will go with only love and hope for your future._

 _Love always,_

 _Mama_

* * *

On Saturday, David walked into Carlos' office and was stunned silent by the person sitting at a desk that hadn't been in the office the last time he was here almost a month ago. Cowboy boots propped up, Jack Kelly looked up from his newspaper and then froze as the two old friends stared at each other in equal surprise.

"Hey, Dave." Jack said, putting the paper down slowly and standing up, "What can I help ya with?"

"Uh, I'm here looking for Carlos…" He narrowed his eyes slightly, brain unwilling to comprehend Jack's current position in the office as he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Jack slipped his hands into his pants pockets and shrugged, "My new job. Just started on Wednesday."

This was news to David and it irritated him that no one saw fit to mention it to him. He had seen everyone just last night for the ballet, how could everyone forget to tell him that Jack was working with Carlos now? Two weeks ago he was working at a factory that made something like hammers and now he was playing at being a private eye? "What do you know about skip tracing?" David asked, the sneer in his words loud in the small office.

"He's not skip tracing." Carlo's voice from behind him had David turning around to face the Spaniard as he came in with a mug of coffee and an easy-going air despite a flicker of something like aggression in his blue eyes, "And right now he's on a probationary period." Jack grinned charmingly, unperturbed by Carlos, and sat back down at his desk as Carlos leaned on his and sipped his coffee, only the smallest hint of shadows below his eyes. "You here about Malakhov?"

David didn't miss the way Jack tilted his head to listen and he inclined his head outside, "Take a walk?"

Carlos narrowed his eyes just a bit, "Jack and I work cases together, now. We can talk in front of him."

He tried to hide his scowl, but he couldn't quite manage it, "Fine. What did you find out last night?" He hoped it was good news because after the events in his hotel room, he wasn't sure how to handle things from here on out. Feeling like he wasn't in control was his least favorite thing, but when it came to Nina he knew it was something he'd have to get used to. The woman wasn't someone he could figure out by looking through her file. She was a rare individual that kept surprising him, that was unique, complex, and a puzzle he wanted to spend a very long time working on. He could not remember anyone ever peeking his interest so much.

Not even Minnie.

That thought caused a mingle of guilt and fear to snap through him. Guilt because he always assumed Minnie was the great love of his life, and fear because if it hurt so much to lose her…how would it feel to lose Nina? He inwardly shoved all thoughts of both women away as Carlos spoke.

"Besides Natalia drinking too much and complaining about some guy who screwed her over, it was uneventful. However, of the male dancers, I think I have it narrowed down to two. Nikolai and Sergei. They are two of the principal male dancers and both kept close to her most of the night. Nikolai is unpleasant to just about everyone except Natalia, which could mean he's after Nina by friending her best friend. However, Sergei is the shallow, cocky type whose ego is easily bruised, so saying he's as pathetic as she says could have the effect on him our G.T. was going for to light a fire under him. In either case, I'm going to head out soon to keep an eye on them at practice."

"I met Sergei yesterday, he's definitely a suspect." David told Carlos, ignoring Jack, who had stood up and joined them to hear what Carlos had to say. "My guts never wrong about guys like him." He added, remembering the scene outside Nina's dressing room.

"Except foah me, right, Dave?" Jack said, drily.

Gritting his teeth, David continued on as if he hadn't spoken, "Tomorrow I'm taking Nina out to a few places so just keep watch on Natalia."

Carlos eyed David, "I was actually going to take tomorrow off for a personal thing. Jack here was going to keep an eye on both of them." He looked to the Cowboy, "Now, you just have to worry about Miss Malakhov."

Jack nodded seriously and David bit back the words that he wanted to say. How could Carlos trust this man at his back? How could he hire him? It was absolutely ridiculous. What could Jack Kelly possibly bring to the table here and why would he want this man sniffing around vulnerable ballerinas? He remembered that Jack had already met Nina, that she had even defended him and his gut twisted at the idea that if he wasn't taking Nina out tomorrow Jack could easily schmooze her up.

Then, for reasons unknown to him, his memory brought up a picture of Nina last night, when she had been comfortable in that silk nightgown, her hair down and brushed around her face, of her looking at him with those blue eyes as deep as the ocean…He felt a fierce wave of protectiveness, of possession for her and he couldn't stop the words before they were out, "I want you to stay away from Nina, you hear me?" He was in Jack's face, his pointer finger right under Jack's nose as he growled out the words.

Jack raised an eyebrow, the silvery scar that cut down his face moving as he gave David a half-smile, "Gotta crush, Dave? Pretty shoah none of us evah saw ya with a girl, we was beginnin' ta wondah."

His vision turned red and before he punched Jack, Carlos got between them and pushed David backwards, away from the Cowboy. "Settle you two." Carlos bit out, glaring at David, "If anyone so much as touches Nina, they'll be dealing with me."

The possessive words made David turn on Carlos, "What is she to you, Fuentes? Last I checked, you had Sophie."

Carlos leaned back on his heels, "I know things about Nina even she doesn't know, David."

"Very mysterious." David scoffed, "But, the truth would be better."

When Carlos didn't say anything, merely looked at David with a blank face that told him he wasn't volunteering information, David turned and left the office building. He wanted answers and apparently, Carlos' information wouldn't be forthcoming. Which only further pissed him off because if that information could help in the investigation…his feet slowed down as realization dawned on him.

"David." Carlos' voice was surprisingly close to him and he turned to see him standing not too far away, his coat buttoned up against the cold, fall day. "This is my investigation." His blue eyes glittered like stars in his deeply tanned face and David wondered briefly at Carlos' parentage.

He nodded at his words, though, "I know." He was just beginning to realize that he was too close to this, despite only knowing Nina a few short weeks. Since before he even met her, he was interested in her and having met her, and the kiss the night before…David was on the fast track to something he never thought he'd have again. "I'll back off…just a bit." He didn't think he could relinquish complete control, but he had to get out of his own way for Carlos to do his job. It was his hotel, but this was Carlos' livelihood and his expertise.

Nodding, Carlos turned and headed off in the direction of the theater. David went the opposite way, his mind turning on tomorrow and what he needed to get ready for his outing with Nina.

* * *

Sunday dawned bright and clear, the sky overcast, but it was an unusually warm day. David breathed it in as he unlocked the back, service door and held it open as the delivery man, Gerald, greeted him, "Hey, David. Where's Thomas?" He asked, grinning with a few crooked teeth. Gerald worked for Sarah's husband, Edward, and since the restaurant always had a busy brunch on the weekends, he brought extra bread, pastries, and other baked goods to keep up with the demand. It was something Chef Bernard hated, taking the outside bakery goods as a slight to his delectable French pastries.

"He's arguing with Bernard." David replied, smiling as Gerald's booming laugh echoed in the alley.

"They argue more than me and my ol' lady." Gerald informed David, his laughter rumbling in his chest as he and David carried the food into the kitchen. Blink and Bernard could be heard even through the office's closed door and they both smothered their laugh as Bernard came out swearing in French and yelling orders to the kitchen staff.

"Gerald's here." David called to Blink as he came out of the office with a glower on his face.

"Oh, great." Blink muttered, coming to help them. Once everything was loaded and the paperwork signed, David grabbed a tray of strawberry and cheese danishes and three cups of coffee and headed up to the top floor. Lightly, he knocked on Nina and Natalia's suite door and listened as movement sounded behind the door.

The door opened a few seconds later and Natalia beamed up at him as she took in the tray of food, "Cheese danishes?!" She asked, without even bothering to greet him, immediately reaching for the coffee.

Chuckling, he nodded as he lowered the tray for her small stature, "Yeah, and there's a few strawberry ones, too."

Natalia was already grabbing a cheese danish and biting into it, her eyes closing as she groaned at the taste of the flaky pastry, " _Nebesnyy otets._ " She murmured in Russian, stepping back and allowing him into the room, "I think we'll keep you, Jacobs." She added, moving to sit down and sip her coffee.

"What does that mean?" He asked, as he set down the tray and glanced around to make sure their room was being cleaned every day.

Natalia grinned, "Heavenly father. These are some delicious pastries."

"Thanks. My sister's husband makes them at his bakery. We get deliveries of them fresh on the weekends." He relaxed against the corner of the sofa and picked up a strawberry Danish.

Something glittered in her grey eyes as she regarded him and took another drink of her coffee, "You have a sister?" She asked, lightly.

He nodded, chewing and swallowing before replying, "Yeah, older by a year. I also have a younger brother." He knew by her file she was the third born in a family of seven, but still he asked, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"A whole brood of them. An older brother and sister, and then two younger sisters and two younger brothers." Her gaze grew a bit far away, "They all live in Saint Petersburg, though. I miss them a lot."

"I bet. When was the last time you saw them?" He inquired, politely.

She gave him a half smile, "It's been three…maybe four years now. My mother still writes me wherever I go, but my older brother is married now with a few kids and my sister helps out raising the younger kids. I think…I think she resents me for leaving, so she won't write me." Smiling, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a worn letter, the edges ripped, the folds soft from being opened and read over and over again. "This last letter was from my youngest sister, Galina. She is learning to write her letters so mother told her to practice by writing me-"

Nina's door opened, giving Natalia pause as David stood, his attention immediately leaving the blonde to land on the tall, brunette. She was awake and put together, wearing a day dress of light blue, the edges embroidered with fine, white daisies and touches of lace on the end of the sleeves and by her throat. She was stunning, lovely, but the smile she plastered on didn't quite reach her eyes.

Her eyes that, last night, had glittered like twinkling stars…David picked up on it, on the subtle features that reminded him of someone. But, rather than thinking about it now, he instead focused on the way her shoulders weren't as square as usual, that she slumped ever so slightly and that she avoided his gaze.

"Hello, David." She greeted, only halfheartedly. For a moment, he was scared that he had dreamed the other night, dreamed up that kiss. Yet, he knew even as he thought it that he was not imaginative enough to dream her up. Nina Teleshova was so much more than he could ever dream up-even if he was given a hundred years to do it.

He brandished his arm out to direct her to the tray, "I brought some danishes and some coffee."

She nodded, "Thank you." She murmured, "But, I'd rather just go out?" Her tone lilted up in hope, her eyes brightening just a touch. She was upset about something, but he could see that she was looking forward to exploring the city with him.

"Whatever the lady wants, the lady gets." He told her, smiling, but in his head he was quickly trying to figure out how he could change his plans to cheer her up. "Grab your coat, it's chilly, and we'll head right out." This awarded him a happier smile, and she turned right around to grab her coat out of her room.

"Thank you." Natalia's sincere words had David turning to see she had brought a paper bag from her room and was putting a few danishes in it. "She's upset because she got _one_ bad review and she feels she didn't dance perfect last night. Take these and make sure she eats." She held the paper bag out and he inclined his head to her as he took it and the last coffee.

"I'll cheer her up." He informed her.

Natalia regarded him once more with her grey eyes traveling over him slowly, clearly noting things about him and he wasn't quite sure what. "Maybe you're not such a stick in the mud." She told him, giving him a soft, half-smile.

And she wasn't the bubbly, flaky girl he had assumed when he first met her. But, he wasn't about to say that to her face, although perhaps in the past he would have. This time, he bit his tongue and nodded his head to her as Nina came out of her room and he held out his elbow for her to loop her arm through.

"Have fun!" Natalia called out after them, her voice bright and sparkling and David caught the small smile that pulled at Nina's mouth.

 **A/N: These characters like to drag things out and Nina _insisted_ she get to tell the date so that will be the next chapter! Love and thanks to all of you reviewing, coveredinbees, my guest reviewer, WordyAF, and my newest guest reviewer Lauren who got to see Real Life Carlos and Sophie (Next time, snap a picture and send it to me! Also, if you make an account here and PM I'd happily reply to your reviews!) Thanks again, all! You guys rock, and I'd love for feedback on this chapter!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	14. Chapter 14

_December 28_ _th_ _, 1899_

 _My lyubimaya dócha_ [Beloved Daughter] _,_

 _It is hard for me to write you these words, but I am afraid your dear mother has passed as of this morning. I bid you to come home to pay your respects to her. We shall wait for you to have her funeral, for she cannot rest in peace without her family here._

 _Love,_

 _Papa_

* * *

Nikolai Kostova leaned against the wall, hidden in the shadow of the stairwell, but with a direct view of the entire hall of the top floor of the Benjamin Hotel. Nina and David had just left and only Natalia would be in the room. However, he knew she had plans to go to the Met this Sunday, so the room would be vacant the moment she stepped out.

Which meant the opportunity for someone to sneak in would be wide open. He dug his hands into his pocket and fingered the cool, metal key there. He'd swiped Natalia's key Friday night when she had been drinking to excess over the man she had met at Irving Hall, made a quick mold of the key from a bar of soap that had been in his own hotel room, before easily sliding the key back into her pocket and taking her home.

As drunk as she was, she didn't think twice about letting him help her up to her room. He loved his friend, but sometimes she was far too trusting for her own good. She seemed to barrel into people's lives, a walking, talking sugar bowl, let them take advantage of her sweetness, and then watched them all get a toothache from it and leave. Inwardly, he winced at her naiveté and then straightened as her door opened and she stepped out of it. She was beautiful, for a woman. Good to the core of her soul, open, trusting, and accepting of everyone despite the flaws they all wore so plainly.

The exact opposite of Nina Teleshova. A hard, cold woman who seemed completely uninterested in anyone unless she saw a use for them. How Natalia put up with that constant porcupine, he was sure he'd never know. But, it didn't make him want to be around her any less. He put up with Nina because, despite her many flaws, she had been bullied and picked on just as much as him. The little blonde woman was the only one who had stuck up for either of them, and for that alone, she had both of their unwavering loyalty.

Which was why he was here. He waited until she had disappeared behind the elevator doors before he sauntered to their door and slid the key that he made from the mold of soap and silently slipped into the room.

Moving over to Nina's room, he pulled a chair into the darkest corner of the room and then he sat and waited.

For over an hour, he sat there.

Finally, as he suspected, the fire escape rattled as weight moved across it and then he watched as the window was forced open by a familiar figure. Sergei Legat slid into the room with the grace from a lifetime of dancing, his muscles contracting beneath his clothes as his feet came through first, followed by his torso, shoulders, and head. He straightened up as he looked around the room, not noticing Nikolai in the corner.

Until he stood up, "Looking for something, Sergei?" He asked, an ice-cold fury settling his bones. There was a lot of reasons to dislike Sergei, many personal ones including bullying, but Nikolai drew the line at this. Natalia hadn't been sleeping well since the break-in, with the exception of when Jack stayed the night, and the thought of her being scared by this prick made him clench his fists and prepare for a fight.

Sergei narrowed his green eyes on Nikolai, folding his arms as though he hadn't just been caught breaking into a hotel room, "If it isn't Kostova, putting his big nose into something that's none of his business."

"And breaking into a woman's hotel room is your business?" Nikolai shot back, raising an eyebrow at him haughtily. When Natalia had first told him someone had broken into her room, he had thought it was just a crazy event. Until he began to notice the way Sergei was constantly hanging around her and Nina, just close enough in case they happened to drop where their new room was.

And he had been far too close to Natalia at the cast party the night before last. He hadn't liked it and he was prepared to use any means his father had taught him to find out why Sergei was targeting these girls. "Look, Nikolai," Sergei was saying, "This is none of your business so if you'll leave and be quiet about this whole mess, I won't tell everyone in the company about your preference for men."

It was the wrong threat to make.

"Did you forget who my father was?" Nikolai asked, rhetorically, before he felt his muscles tighten the second before he tackled the man, straddling the son of a bitch and grabbing his hair to pull his head back before slamming it back on the carpeted floor. He leaned back on his heels as he took in the unconscious man. He sighed, stood, and tossed the male lead over his shoulder, " _Doorak_." _Fool,_ He muttered as he glanced around to make sure he hadn't disturbed anything in the room before he left. Sergei weighed a ton, but Nikolai had carried heavier bodies.

* * *

Nina sighed as they strode out of the hotel and hit the streets of New York. It had been quiet between them since leaving the room, but it was not in the least bit awkward. It was actually rather pleasant, just being next to him with no need to fill the silence. She took the time to revel in their arms looped together, his hand over hers. It was a big hand, warm and a bit calloused, which surprised her and made her wonder about his past. There were more questions than answers when it came to David and she wanted to know what was under that icy exterior. He was a man of contradictions and she found she liked it very much. He could be so sensible in one moment, yet awkward in the next. A strange mix of a man who still had a tendency to be a boy.

He handed her the bag he left the hotel room with a few blocks into their journey, "Eat one. You need food if we're going to walk all over the city." His words were encouraging and light. When she looked up at him, his eyes were light blue, too. Not the usual frosty blue.

Her stomach growled in response and they both smiled as she took the bag and pulled her arm from his to open it and select a strawberry Danish. "Oh my…" She murmured, as she bit into it, "This is absolutely marvelous. Who makes these?"

The Danish wasn't warm, but the pastry was still flaky and the strawberry filling was absolutely mouthwatering. She finished the first one and immediately pulled out another as David chuckled, "My sister's husband owns a bakery. I think she married him because of his baking ability."

"Smart woman." Nina told him, greedily licking the filling from her thumb, "This is food from the heavens." She sighed as she looked in the bag and realized she'd eaten them all. "You weren't hungry, _da_?" Glancing over at him, she felt a glowing warmth light up in her gut and begin to hum as she saw he was smiling at her with a look that was obvious infatuation.

"Not for pastries." He murmured, his voice an octave lower and she realized he was watching her lick her fingers and she felt a hot blush crawl through her.

"David Jacobs, are you flirting with me?" He disposed of the empty paper bag and brought her hand to loop through his elbow once more, pulling her closer to his side as she said those words.

She was satisfied when he blushed, obviously not used to flirting and especially not being called out on it. "I-uh," He tried to come up with a proper response, but he floundered and she giggled as his ears turned pink.

"I'll save you, _glupyy mal'chik_." _Silly boy,_ She said, "Now, tell me why a business man such as yourself has such calloused hands."

Her question made him take his hand off of hers long enough to glance at it before he gave her a half-smile and returned it as he replied, "Well, when I chose the location for my hotel, I chose an old hotel that had been closed for years. It was falling apart and the loan and investors' money only went so far. I had to do a lot of work by hand, which meant I had to learn how to do it first. The time spent doing all that manual labor will do this to your hands."

She turned her palm over on his arm and felt the callouses when he put his hand back on hers, "I like it. It's like my feet, you can visibly see the signs of our work."

He shook his head, "What is it with you and feet?" He asked, but she knew it was just his way of teasing her and the mention of their time in his hotel room brought a hum of happiness. He had to have been thinking about it to bring it up. She, too, had been thinking about it. Perhaps too much. Her performance the night before had been less than ideal.

Suddenly, her thoughts turned once more to the bad review. One, that's all it was, but it only took one person's opinion to destroy a ballerina's career.

As if he read the turn of her thoughts, David spoke to pull her away from them, "You're a great dancer, Nina. Why are you upset about one bad review?"

His voice was soft, soothing, and she sighed as she tried to find the words to explain why it was that one bad review bothered her so much. "All it takes is one bad review and I feel like I'm fourteen again and my old tutor is screaming at me for a mistake. It fills my brain up with his deep, Russian yells repeating over and over again until it gives me a headache and I want to scream but there's nowhere to do it…" She let her words trail off, realizing she was rambling one of her most private things to him and she glanced up to see he was listening intently, his eyebrows drawn as he thought her words over.

Suddenly, he was hailing a carriage, "Hang on, we're changing plans real quick." He said, opening the door and helping her into it. She missed where he was telling the driver to go and then he slid in beside her and it lurched forward, the clopping of the horse's hooves almost drowning out the other city sounds.

"Where are we going?" She asked, peeking out the window.

He grinned, looking dashing with his curly, brown hair a little ruffled from their walk and the cold, fall wind. His blue eyes danced every time he turned them on her and it made her feel like the most beautiful woman around when he did that. "You'll see. Just a few minutes." He told her, looking out his own window.

The carriage began to cross a bridge and she glanced out when he yelled up to stop them part way. He paid the driver and helped her out, his eagerness to show her whatever it was causing her to smile so hard her cheeks began to hurt. Nina couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun. Dinner with his friends was fun, but this was so much more than that. Just the two of them, informal, feeling like two teenagers exploring the world together. It was exhilarating.

He stopped them right in the center of the bridge, along the metal railing, and he grinned at her right before he leaned over, nearly scaring her to death that he was going to fall causing her to grab him by the waist just as he screamed down at the river below, the sound all but drowned out by the crashing waves below and the busy bridge behind them.

"David!" She exclaimed as he stood back upright.

"Your turn. Let it out!" He told her.

She slowly let go of him, placed both hands on the rail, shot him a sideways glance before she took a deep breath and then screamed over the side.

If you asked Nina what she would do while exploring New York, she never would have dreamed up this moment. But, screaming over the side of the bridge, at the river and crashing waves, was somehow incredibly exhilarating and it helped ease the tension and anxiety she felt over the bad review. She straightened and turned to David with an awed expression, the screaming of her old dancing instructor gone from her mind. " _Neveroyatnyy_." _Unbelievable,_ She murmured, "Who taught you this?"

That question caused his smile to drop slightly, but he forced it back on as he asked, "Did it work?"

" _Da_. Yes." She replied, "But, you didn't answer my question." She persisted, as he held his elbow out for her to loop her hand through once more.

David sighed, "An old buddy of mine. When we were kids, we led a newsboy strike because they raised the prices on us. We came to Brooklyn to get support from other newsies and on the way he stopped to scream over the side." The slight lift of his lips left him looking bittersweet on the memories.

Nina caught the tensing of his muscles and the narrowing of his eyes as he spoke and she took a wild guess, "Was that old buddy Jack?"

It was the right guess, but she supposed it was wrong for her to bring it up because, for the first time that morning, his blue eyes returned to that wintry, glacier blue. She felt a stab of regret for bringing up that name, but she was still curious about the man David hated. Mostly because she wondered what he could have done to instill such hatred in the hotelier. "Jack." David muttered, liked a curse, passing her a glance from the corner of his eyes, "Still curious about him? Because he saved your luggage?" His words were argumentative, as though he were readying for a fight she did not want to have.

And then it clicked. Her eyes narrowed up at him, "Are you jealous, David?"

Her words ruffled him, and he scowled, "Of Jack? Hardly." His argument came too close on the heels of her words, disproving their truth. "Jack's barely making a living, he has a child to worry about, and he looks like he could use a meal. Who is he compared to what I've built? What I've accomplished in the last eight years since being a poor, newsboy?"

"My luggage had letters from my mother, letters I've never opened." The secret came out in the silence that followed his petty tirade, but she did not have it in her to judge him for it. He should be proud of all he'd done, and perhaps what Jack did to him warranted his eternal hatred. Without knowing the reason, she couldn't weigh in. What she did know, though, is that without Jack, she would have lost those letters forever. Never knowing what her mother's final year of life was like…the thought made her despondently sad.

David stopped them in front of a tavern. Moriarty's, it proclaimed, and he turned to face her, his hands going to her upper arms as his eyes, now a warmer blue, searched her face, "The letters in your box?"

She nodded, speechless at the compassion on his face as he gazed down at her. He seemed like a decent man, on the surface, but to see that level of feeling, so open on his face, stole her breath away.

He blew out a breath and dropped his arms to his side. She mourned the loss of his touch, ached to press close to him and have him wrap his arms around her, but she held back. As she always did. Because the fear of leaning entirely on a person who could slide out from under you paralyzed her from allowing that scenario to play out in real life. "Jack was my best friend." He finally said, breaking her from her thoughts. "He even courted my sister for a while. We thought they'd get married, but then he stopped coming around as much and started pulling away. The next thing I know, I have one of the guys telling me that Jack has a new girl. Without ever breaking things off with Sarah." He ran a hand through his hair, "We fought, he left. Went to Chicago. I thought I'd never have to deal with him, again, and Sarah married Edward and she was happy."

Nina absorbed his story, putting the pieces into place, "He found out he had a child and came back, yes?" She asked, reaching out to touch his arm. Jack betraying him and his sister seemed a good reason to despise him. Nina had been burned like that once before, understood what it was like to pin hopes on a man who turned around and went into the arms of another, easier woman. It was an age-old story, really.

David nodded and looked up at Moriarty's, "This is the tavern I met the sailor who gave me the rooster."

She followed his gaze, surprised he would take her here. "After your Minnie died?" She asked, inwardly wincing when she brought up yet _another_ person from his past that he seemed uninclined to talk about.

Instead of being angry at her, he smiled uneasily, "Let's save some secrets for another time."

There was just a touch of pain behind his eyes, so she let him drop the subject and then once more took his arm, "Where to now?" She inquired, gazing up at him from her eyelashes, hoping she could ease him back into the light-hearted David of this morning.

Glancing around, he rubbed his bottom lip as he thought, "Hmm, want to see Battery Park? It's not as grand as Central Park, but we'll go there next weekend."

Nina smiled and let him lead her, feeling a thrill run up her spine at the thought of more time spent with him like this, "Are we having dinner tomorrow night?" She wondered, aloud.

"If you would care to join me." He murmured, expertly weaving them through the crowd. "Jack won't be there, though." He quipped, causing her to laugh at his unexpected teasing.

"I hardly want to see him, now, after what he did to your sister." She told him, honestly.

His eyebrows furrowed, "My sister told me she forgave him." He shook his head, "What he did to her…she said, it gave her the opportunity to find her real happiness with Ed." A thoughtful look crossed his face as he contemplated those words.

Nina almost told him about Ivan, the words on the tip of her tongue, and it surprised her that she felt comfortable with him enough to tell him about it. She swallowed back the name, however, and instead focused on the concept before them, "She's right, no? One mistake on Jack's part brought her to find the real love of her life…that's not so bad." She paused, before adding, rather recklessly, "And if she can forgive him, why can't you?"

His shoulders squared and tensed at her question, his eyes flashing once more to that icy color before thawing out. David heaved a sigh that seemed bigger than him, "I don't know. He betrayed our friendship and he doesn't have the decency to apologize for it."

She didn't know Jack well enough to ascertain what kind of person he was, but judging from the story, she could guess. She shrugged, "He was young, selfish. He saw your fight as you, protecting your sister, not as a betrayed friend."

David passed her a mystified look that brought to her mind all of his friends and how they looked at their significant others. It made her giddy and more alive than she'd ever felt, "Race, Blink, and Mush have been badgering me about forgiving him for years. You're the only person who's gotten me to actually consider it."

 **A/N: YOOOO! Davey and Nina are so introverted, they only like to tell me their side of the story in small doses. So, I apologize that this particular chapter was so long in coming. However, I'm so excited about Nikolai. He's an interesting character that seemed to just come suddenly, out of the woodwork. Like, he'd been observing everything and now he wants to tell me. Haha! Thank you to my lovely reviewers, WordyAF and my guest reviewer!**

 **I would love to hear what you all think of this chapter! Drop me a review!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	15. Chapter 15

_October 31_ _st_ _, 1907_

 _My Dear Niece,_

 _I have been receiving news of your amazing performances in Paris and can only assume that your show in America will be just as successful. I cannot believe I've never seen one of them and since you and I are the only family we have left, I thought I'd travel. I should be there in six weeks' time and hope to get a balcony seat for a December performance! I shall see you soon, tsvetoc_ _._

 _-Uncle Gideon_

* * *

David didn't know quite what to think of the woman beside him-or the way he felt around her. It was as though, suddenly, he was another man. A more open, adventurous, _alive_ man when Nina Teleshova gazed up at him. A man worthy of such a creature as her. He had never before felt like this.

Not even with Minny.

He pushed away thoughts of a love long gone, there was no place for it today. Not here and now when he felt younger than ever. David Jacobs was infamous for being an old soul, for being too stiff and uppity to joke with the guys, too tight-laced to relax and have fun, and yes, a big fuddy duddy, as Natalia called him. But, not with Nina. With Nina, he was just a man and she brought out this side of himself he didn't know.

"I really like your friends, David." He hadn't realized silence had fallen over them until she broke it. They'd walked deeper into the park that was all but empty given it was a cold, fall Sunday. A breeze pushed a dozen leaves across their path as they walked, the skittering sound of dried leaves, the wind in the branches, all of it a musical symphony of their date.

Why was he so immensely gratified that she liked his friends? "I'm glad, they seemed to like you, too. They cheered really loud when you took your bow at the end of the show."

"That was them?" She inquired, looking up at him in surprise.

He grinned as he recalled Blink and Race whistling loudly and yelling her name, "Yeah, Blink and Race can get a little out of hand at shows. Blink especially likes hanging off of balconies." He chuckled as he remembered the once one-eyed man at the Newsies rally.

"Oh, my. I thought I garnered a following that night. Didn't know it was…my friends." She said the words hesitantly, tasting them it seemed, and the thick accent of her words as she said it set a fire to his veins in a way he wasn't used to. He liked the way her accent made her t's roll, added a 'k' sound at words ending in 'ing', and the way her consonants came out harder than necessary.

Her words made him concerned, though, "Why don't you seem to have a lot of friends?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, as though it didn't bother her when he knew it did, her gaze straying their surroundings, "I don't know. I grew up an only child. I don't have experience…friending…others. My mother always said I had a hard personality."

It was the first time he'd heard her stumble over an English word, "Hard how?" He asked, thinking he disagreed on that front. Perhaps she wasn't cold or hard, just aloof. Growing up as an only child had to be difficult, especially in the cold, unforgivable Russian countryside.

Nina turned and regarded him with a touch of humor, "You sure are curious, Mr. Jacobs."

"I thought we were on a first name basis, Miss Teleshova." He countered. The truth was, he wanted to know everything about her and he wanted to hear her tell him it in that sultry, accented voice of her.

"Alright, David." She purred, pronouncing the 'a' in his name like a short 'e'. It made his thoughts take a sudden left turn into the inappropriate territory and he stopped them in the middle of the path to look at her. "But, I get to ask a few questions of my own." She added, trailing her hands down his arms until she reached his hands, intertwining hers with his as she looked up at him from under her lashes.

"You can ask me anything, Nina." He heard himself say, the words almost sticking in his throat as he tried to swallow past the sudden dryness in his mouth.

A smile toyed around the edges of her mouth, "Do you dance, David?"

The question was unexpected and he chuckled, shaking his head, "Uh, that would be a no."

"No?" She persisted, her brows furrowing, "Not at all?"

He shook his head again, "No. Never learned. My ma might have tried to show me when I was seven, I remember she let me stand on her feet and we shuffled around the kitchen together while she hummed but I was terrible at it."

She smiled at the memory he told her, "So, I couldn't convince you to dance with me right here? I might let you stand on my feet." Her gentle teasing, the brightness of her blue eyes against the backdrop of the grey, overcast sky dazzled him as he tried to come up with reasons they couldn't dance.

"There's no music." He pointed out, "And I'd crush your feet with my weight and how could I do that to all of your adoring fans?"

Nina waived away his excuses, "No, a man should know how to dance. Come here, arms up. We'll start with something easier than ballet. A waltz." Her accent got thicker when she was demanding, and he grinned at her as he raised his arms above his head.

Joking around with her, like Race and Clara would do to each other. Nina laughed and reached up to bring his arms down lower, stepping so close to him he caught another whiff of that spicy perfume of hers. He felt his eyelids grow heavy as he inhaled it, wanting very suddenly to bury his face in her neck and kiss her soft skin…he shook his head quickly, trying to focus on what she was saying as she put one of his hands on her impossibly tiny waist and grasped the other hand in hers. "…the man leads so count one, two, three. One, move your feet together, two step forward and then have the other foot follow, three step out. You're drawing a box in three beats with your feet."

"I could listen to you read off an inventory list to me." The words slipped out as he thought them, though he should have been concentrating on her directions. It was hard when all he wanted to do is listen to her talk to him.

His sudden, abject honesty made her pause and she froze in his arms, gazing up at him with a face that showed how surprised she was by his words. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. Instead, she quickly decided to drop his hand, cup his face and pull his lips to hers.

This was the second time she initiated the kiss and once more he found himself surprised and taking an extra moment to respond to her soft lips on his. But, he made sure to make up for his hesitation, his hands going to her waist and pulling her flush against him without thought that they were in public. His entire mind was blanked by her searing kiss, her lips gentle but insistent and he deepened the kiss to keep her from pulling away prematurely as she did the night she visited his hotel room.

That devastating kiss could have gone on the rest of the day as far as David was concerned, but it was interrupted by the very familiar sound of a camera snapping a picture. The couple froze before breaking apart and glancing towards the source of the noise to see a gentleman in a gray suit picking up his large camera and running off.

"Reporter." They said it in unison, both grim faced and monotone.

David sighed and pulled away from her, quickly scanning over her to make sure he hadn't mussed up her outfit, before he smoothed his own jacket, "Tomorrow's headline, I'm sure." He muttered, "Hotel Owner and Prima Ballerina caught necking in Battery Park."

She reached out a steadying hand and rested it gently on his arm, "I'm sorry, I garner a lot of attention."

He gave her a crooked smile, "So do I. Comes with being a successful business man…and young."

"And a strike leader." She murmured, still gazing at him softly, as though he'd hung the moon for her. Which he'd gladly do if it kept that look on her face.

He sighed at the direction of his thoughts, realizing belatedly that this date might not have been the best idea. He took her arm and looped it through his own, heading back the way they'd come. They'd been dancing around each other since she arrived in New York and suddenly he was diving headfirst into this as though she wasn't leaving come the new year. As though loving him would keep her here. A ballerina with the world open at her feet.

Clearing his throat, he glanced away before asking, "Where to after you leave New York?"

She shrugged, not really sensing that he was poised to hang on every word, "The tour is going back to Paris. Then maybe back home to Russia. I, however, won't be joining them."

David attempted to appear cool, this was their first date after all. He didn't want to get ahead of himself, but being with her was like nothing he'd ever felt before. His heart beat impossibly hard and fast at the thought she might stay, "You're at the height of your career." He pointed out, "You want to quit?"

"I'm at the end of my career. I want to retire. I'll be twenty-five in February; no ballet company wants a Prima Ballerina that old. I might as well retire before they kick me out, do it on my own terms."

He nodded, liking her fire. "Then where will you go? What will you do?"

Nibbling gently on her lip, a look of unease appeared on her face, "I'm not sure. My mother talked a lot about America growing up, and I like New York. But, I'd have to go back to Russia when I'm twenty-five in order to settle my affairs. Then, I'll either travel or perhaps come back here. Set up my own dance company and teach." She ducked her head, embarrassed, "I haven't gotten it all figured out, yet."

David shrugged, "That's alright. I've got my plans set for spring to expand the Benjamin, but after the completion…I don't really know what I'll do."

"What are your plans?" She asked, genuine interest in her voice as she looked up at him. He didn't understand how she could be so perfectly lovely, interested in his boring business, and interested in him.

He shrugged, "Well, first we're taking over the rest of the buildings on our block, expanding the entire length rather than upwards. For now. I may add on depending on how business runs. But, the add on is going to include a few floors with several sized rooms we can rent out. Ballrooms, business meeting rooms. Anything that will bring in more revenue."

"Ballrooms for dancing?" Her mouth hooked up, "So, you do plan on dancing in the future."

Rolling his eyes at her playfulness, he shook his head, "I was thinking for wedding receptions, actually. Race's wedding in August gave me the idea and Blink mentioned the bonus of the hotel catering which means more money for us."

"Is that the end goal, David? The money?" Her tone was suddenly flat and a touch colder than it had been all day.

Halting, he pulled her to a stop with him and caught her gaze, "Not necessarily. But, this is my empire. I won't watch it fail."

Her head tilted as she searched his face, "You don't give up on things? Or people?"

"No." The word was out before he realized that it wasn't entirely true.

"You gave up on Jack."

Scowling, he turned his gaze to their surroundings, "I guess…I guess that's true. What is it with you wanting me to forgive him? Why won't you let it go?"

Nina reached up and cupped his face, bringing his gaze back to hers, "I don't want to push you to do anything you don't want to do. Believe me. I just know what it's like to hold a grudge until it's too late to forgive them. It eats at your insides like acid and hurts you more than it hurts them. You deserve to give peace a chance."

He closed his eyes as her words sunk in and he pressed his cheek into her palm before turning his face and lightly kissing it. "You're right." He sighed, reaching up to hold her hand and savor her touch.

She smiled at his words, looking a touch impish as she replied, "I know I am. Now, I'll stop bringing this up if you take me to get some sweets."

Chuckling, he pulled her arm back through the crook of his elbow and hailed a carriage to take them to Caine's Candies where he bought her a box of assorted chocolates and they talked to Vivian for a bit before heading back outside. The sun was beginning to meet the horizon, falling lower with each minute and he knew that the best day of his life was quickly coming to a close. "We should head back."

She rested her head on his arm, "Already?" But, the word was interrupted by a yawn and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It felt so easy with her, like they'd been together for years.

David Jacobs, who hadn't imagined a future with anyone since Minny died, now imagined one with Nina. It was both terrifying and exhilarating, but for some reason it felt…startling right. Like, it was always supposed to be this way. His arm tightened just a touch as he remembered someone was gunning for her and he felt a wave of fierce protectiveness that he'd only ever felt for one of his siblings or friends.

He was not the helpless newsboy that he used to be. He would not let anything happen to her and he would destroy anyone who tried to hurt her.

* * *

There was a surprise waiting for them when they stepped off the elevator. Jack Kelly, as if he knew they'd discussed him today, was standing in front of Nina and Natalia's door, in front of Natalia and Nikolai, and looking like a strange, lost puppy. His wide, brown eyes were pleadingly gazing at Natalia, whose watery eyes were gazing back at him as though he were her prince come to save her.

"Jack?" David said, surprised.

At the same time, Nina pulled up short to look between the crowd in front of her room, "Nikolai? Natalia?"

"Uh, I was just leavin'." Jack muttered, his hands pushed deep into his pocket as he sidled around them all to get on the elevator.

David grappled back the irritation at Nikolai knowing where their room was, but he didn't have time to really scold Natalia for not doing as directed. Jack disappeared behind the elevator door and he realized he'd listened to Nina and all her advice today, that he finally, _finally_ felt ready to fix things with Jack. He turned to look at her and she nodded, as if she knew what he needed to do.

He picked up her hand and kissed it and then took long strides to punch the button for the elevator. It came right back from the lobby without any stops and he got on and turn back as Nina guided Natalia into their room and Nikolai stood watching David with narrowed eyes, his muscled arms folded across his chest looking more threatening than friendly before the doors shut on the hallway.

Why didn't he get the same aggressive feeling with Nikolai that he did with Sergei? Nikolai didn't send off the unnerving, wrong signals to his gut that Sergei did, he actually thought he might trust Nikolai just a touch-at least with Natalia. His background from his folder was lighter than the others, vaguer than anything, but he hadn't really thought much into that. He'd have to bring up the subject to Carlos.

He stepped off the elevator and called to Jack just as the man reached the front doors. Jack paused and turned around as David got half way through the lobby, stopping when he reached the restaurant doors to his right, and inclining his head towards it, "Let's grab a drink." He suggested, part of him inwardly smug at Jack's blatant bewilderment.

Leading Jack to the bar inside the restaurant, David sat on a stool and watched as Jack shrugged and sat beside him. He glanced around to make sure Skittery was working and scowled as he watched the ex-newsie amble into the kitchens. The guy had good experience with waiting tables, but he was always purposely goofing off. Rather than dwell on it, though, David turned back to the situation at hand "Whiskey?" He asked Jack.

Who shrugged nonchalantly, "Whatevah ya like, Dave."

The gesture reminded David of how uncomfortable Jack appeared the first night he stayed for dinner, how detached and wary he was around a family. Now, it was David's turn to be detached and wary with this new man in front of him, a man who'd been a selfish kid before he ran away to Chicago and came back with a scar and a whole new look on life. A man who'd come back for his kid. Not something David thought the younger Jack Kelly would have done.

"Felix, two whiskey neats." He told the bartender as he felt Jack's eyes on him. Probably wondering what in the hell he was up to. David wasn't entirely sure about it himself, but Nina's words about holding on to all of the anger, of it poisoning him…well, he didn't want it anymore. In the last few weeks, he'd felt more alive than in the last eight years and if letting this go gave him a fresh start at something new and exciting with Nina, he wanted to try it. Cut away the dead skin and let the stronger stuff heal over.

"What's the occasion?" Jack asked as they both raised their glasses, as if unconsciously toasting their first semi-civil conversation in two years.

That thought made David feel a touch of humor and he clinked his glass to Jack's, "Let's just drink."

"I'll drink to that." Jack joked lightly, but his eyes widened as David tossed back the liquor in one gulp, nearly slamming it back on the counter as he waved to Felix for a refill. Jack followed suit, a gleam of respect at David's drinking lighting his coffee colored eyes.

David angled himself towards Jack and peered at him, taking in his grey trousers and simple shirt, both looking well-worn and like he could use new clothes. It was disconcerting to David to see him like this because ever since he could afford to pay Blink, Race, and Mush a real wage he'd gotten used to everyone being in much nicer clothes. Not top of the line, but also not the rags of the newsboys. There was one thing he was glad to see Jack forego from his newsie days, though, and he voiced it before he could really stop himself, "I'm glad you stopped wearing that cowboy hat." He picked up his newly refilled glass and sipped it, "It always looked a bit ridiculous."

Jack replied with a snort and then a sarcastic, "Thanks, Dave." It was so reminiscent of when they were teenagers that David felt the corner of his mouth hook up and they sat there basking in the familiarity for a few minutes.

David, startled at how relaxed he was around a man he considered his greatest enemy, loosened his tie. Wondering if it was strangling him and he didn't know it as it kept the oxygen from his brain. As the whiskey worked its way through him, he pulled off his jacket and set it on the stool beside him, beginning to roll his sleeves up just as Jack said, "Well, Dave, our drinking caught people's interest."

The hotelier rolled his eyes, "Our friends wouldn't be themselves if they weren't butting into everyone elses' business." All the times in the last eight years of unwanted advice and the nosiness of their friends flashed through David's mind in an instant.

Jack was nodding along, "Yeah, like when you butted into Blink's business."

David decided if he and Jack had remained friends, his eyes would have gotten stuck in the back of his skull for the amount of time he spent rolling them. "That's different. Blink needed help." He argued, adding, "and didn't you go with Race to pay off Scott's debt?" He remembered Race telling him that much.

The cowboy chuckled, "He needed some muscle." At that, David found himself letting out a loud, 'Ha!' and Jack scowled as he added, "I can fight. Beat you, didn't I?"

David shook his head at the memory of their fight, remembering it going a very different way than Jack remembered it. "Hardly a fair fight when I was sleep deprived and angry." Even despite the lack of rest, David remembered putting Jack on his ass.

But, the look Jack gave him was one of disbelief and mocking, "Yeah, because well-slept and happy David woulda been a bettah fightah."

Indignation flared in his gut, "Want a re-match?" He challenged, thinking he could really use a good reason to bloody his knuckles. He'd never been big into violence, could remember nearly vomiting at how bloody Blink was after his fight with six men, but even he had his limits at being insulted. And they'd only lowered since his success in the hotel business.

He forgot who he was dealing with, though, because hotheaded Jack was standing up, rising to the challenge, "Awright, Jacobs. If ya wanna take out ya years of anger over something that had nothin' ta do with you, let's take it outside."

Those words irritated David to no end and he stood and crowded Jack, his words coming out lower and deeper than normal, "Nothing to do with me, Jack? You think is had _nothing_ to do with me? You were my best friend. And you betrayed _me_."

Jack stepped back, running his hand through his hair and huffing as he debated David's words, looking as though David just told him the secret of the universe was to cut your arm off, "It wasn't about you, Dave." He defended himself and David could see he honestly believed that. He stewed for a few moments more until finally, "But, I guess…" His sudden turn around shocked David for a moment as he uttered words he never would have expected, "I guess, I didn't realize bein' so selfish, doin' what I did ta Sarah, was gonna make you feel that way."

Sitting back on his heels, David surveyed Jack as he crossed his arms, "Really? I just can't understand you. If your best friend cheated on your sister, you wouldn't feel betrayed?" Even if Jack didn't have anything close to a family growing up, he didn't understand how he could be so unempathetic.

"Hey, haven't we established I'm not the smartest, Dave? Ya really need to dig the salt in the wound? I risked it comin' inta your hotel to beg some woman to give me a chance when she clearly's not interested in my kid." Jack's irritated words were a balm to David's anger, because as close as they'd been when they were younger, he knew Jack wasn't the brightest.

David took his gaze from Jack, peeking over towards the one table with customers, and watched as the man took a long pull from his glass of water, draining a nearly full glass in a matter of seconds. "Skittery." David called out to where the brunette was leaning lazily against the wall, "That man over there needs a refill on his water." The annoyance wasn't really directed at Skittery, but it didn't make him move as fast as David would like, taking his time polishing off his danish before doing as he was told. At a pace that was less than ideal to David.

Jack's chuckle brought David from scowling at his employee, "I can't believe you hired Skittery, of all people." At once, they both moved to resume their seats, neither acknowledging the fact that they didn't go duke it out in the alley.

His smile went flat, "I hired him temporarily, at first. Just for the busier nights. But, somehow, Blink convinced me to hire him permanently." He wasn't sure how it happened, Blink just went on and on about what an excellent employee Skittery was and David, too frazzled by the plans for the expansion and the impending ballerinas, agreed to it. It wasn't until Skittery's thirty-day review came up and David came into the restaurant only to find him waiting tables looking like he'd wrestled his mattress to get up that he began having doubts, "He purposely comes in looking a mess, never brushes his hair, and moves at a snails' pace. It drives me crazy."

"Ya know, if you don't react to any of it, he'll lose interest. He just likes pushing peoples' buttons. Kloppman had that sign up about no girls directed at him and Blink and ya know he never paid any attention to it." Jack informed him.

As if David would take advice from Jack, "Yes, let's let the employees dress however they please, act however they want. That will drive my customers away. I need him to fall in line with the rest of the wait staff." How hard was it, really? Do your job, follow the employee dress code, and make more money than any other restaurant in the city? David set his wages competitively, making sure Blink knew how he felt about hiring the best.

He ignored Jack's head shake, his eyes taking in the worn, drawn look on Jack's face. Something happened to the Cowboy today, something to do with Natalia, who David assumed was the girl he'd gone to see, risking the possibility of seeing David. "So, how'd you meet Natalia?" David couldn't stop the question, too curious as to why Jack would even know the tiny, Russian Ballerina.

Jack's head tipped back as he downed another glass of the whiskey before he answered David's question, "She seduced me last week."

"She seduced you and you want a second chance?" He didn't know Natalia very well but he was surprised to hear that she seduced Jack. Like a female version of Blink, and apparently, Jack was the girl looking to make more out of the night.

He must have had an edge to his question, because Jack ran a frustrated hand through his hair and tried to explain himself, "Yeah. But, she ain't gonna give me one. Kids are baggage." He sighed, "There was somethin' about her, Dave. Ya evah meet a girl that lights ya insides up?"

Jack's question provoked an image of a girl in David's mind and before two weeks ago it would have been Minny's brown, sparkling eyes. But, no longer. Instead, he pictured Nina just earlier today, gazing up at him after he'd told her he could listen to her read off an inventory list. "Yeah, I can relate." He told Jack, finishing his third glass of whiskey, the liquor no longer burning, but warming him, "You felt dead inside until she came around."

He _was_ dead inside before Nina came along, and perhaps it was the liquor, but he felt safe to think that this new thing could be even more of the real thing than what he'd felt for Minny. Once more he thought of how it was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.

"Yeah…hey, you're not tawkin' about Natalia are you?" Jack asked, his words slurring just a bit.

Three glasses of whiskey and working on a fourth, paired with Jack's ridiculous question, made David laugh so loudly, it seemed to echo in the near empty restaurant, "Oh, no." He said, thinking of tall, beautiful Nina compared to Natalia. There _was_ no comparison, "Nina. Nina Telephona…no, Teleshova." He looked down at his glass wondering if he should have stopped at three, but it was really too late if he was butchering his lady's last name.

Jack was nodding with relief and David felt a chord of happiness hum through him, enjoying this moment with an old friend. The past was dormant, put to rest, and David felt a relief that was palpable. Holding onto that anger so long seemed to…starve him and now he was feeling full and content. "I…kinda missed this, Jack." He didn't meet Jack's eyes.

"Me too." A comfortable silence fell between them until Jack suddenly laughed, the liquor seeming to hit him a tad stronger than David, "Les singing Lovey Dovey Baby in his sleep." The cowboy explained.

David laughed, amending silently that the liquor must have hit them both hard as Felix poured their fifth round and David began to hum the song that Medda sang the first night he'd met Jack.

"I used to be your tootsie-wootsie." Jack sang along with David's humming and the hotelier had to bite back laughter as he joined in.

"Then you said toodley-too." David found himself waving his fingers at Jack, who'd closed his eyes and was already beginning the hanky-panky stanza and David started to join him as Blink and Skittery showed up, grabbing them by the back of their shirts and hustling them from the restaurant into the kitchens.

"David, I expected better of you. Making a drunkin' racket in my restaurant…" Blink's lecture was a first for David and him and Jack laughed as they leaned against each other. "I'm going ta have ta appease that poor family with free dinner. Those kids is scarred."

David attempted to straighten up as Katy handed them their drinks and Skittery tapped the bottom of his glass, "Totally worth it. Drink up, Dave. Loosen up."

Laughing into his glass, his shoulders shook more as Jack said, dryly, "Subtle, Skit." In unison, they threw their drinks back and laughed at the unplanned moment, clinking their glasses together.

For the first time in a long time, David thought drunkenly, the gang was alright.

"I don't think Mush or Race would believe us if we told 'em about this." Blink whispered loudly to Skittery, causing David to laugh harder at the thought of the whole group's looks of astonishment over this new development.

David reached out and patted Jack on the back, "Let me call a carriage for you."

Blink got between them, "How about Skittery gets Jack into the carriage and I make sure you get up to bed?" The blonde man offered.

"Oh, no, I know what happens when you take people to bed." David told him as Katy's peal of laughter followed them out of the kitchens and towards the lobby.

"I didn't know David was funny!" She called after Blink, "Maybe I'll leave you for him."

Blink glared back at her, "You'd have to keep him drunk all the time to find his sense of humor."

"Hey, I'm funny." David tried to defend himself, but it might have come out slurred and jumbled together. Five whiskeys were probably too much, he decided.

He must have said that last thing aloud because Blink laughed, "Five whiskeys, that's all? Jack must be starved and ya a lightweight. I'd drink ya both undah the table." He looked thoughtful, "Next time make shoah I'm not woikin' when ya two drink." Blink shoved him off the elevator and David immediately looked towards Nina's door. Knowing she was right behind there, sleeping soundly, made his heart ache unexpectedly.

"No, no, no. Not that way." Blink groused, grabbing him before he could go to her door, "This is your door. No drunken knocks on the Ballerinas' door tonight."

"Thanks, Blink." David murmured, sincerely, "For everything. I made a good choice in hiring you."

Blink shrugged as he helped David unlock the door and then pushed him inside. The blonde man was not being particularly gentle, "Not like I gave ya much of a choice, Davey." He grinned, "I'm very persuasive, just ask Katy." He winked before he left, shutting the door before David could reply.

 **A/N: This chapter got so out of hand, it was nearly 12 pages long. So, hopefully well worth the wait! Many thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, Hannah Emily Bunker, my Guest reviewer, and WordyAF! I love you guys. Let me know how you liked this in a review!**

 _tsvetoc = flower_

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	16. Chapter 16

" _I need someone_

 _Who knows struggle_

 _As well as I do_

 _Someone_

 _Willing to hold my feet in their lap_

 _On days it is too difficult to stand_

 _The type of person who gives_

 _Exactly what I need_

 _Before I even know I need it_

 _The type of lover who hears me_

 _Even when I do not speak_

 _Is the type of understanding_

 _I demand."_

 _-the type of lover I need,_ Rupi Kaur

* * *

The next three weeks of November flew by for Nina, a blur of practice, performances, and evenings spent with David as they got to know each other. And every single second spent with him, Nina felt an increase in her feelings for him. He was reliable and steadfast, certainly not the sexy qualities most women looked for in a man, but he was exactly what Nina needed. There was something thrilling about being desired by a man who usually never even looked up from his work. She adored the fact that as soon as she stepped foot in the hotel, his immediate attention was on her.

It became their thing, every evening when the ballerinas came back to the Benjamin, he'd come out of his office and walk her up to her room, asking how her day was and sometimes she'd invite him in and he'd tell her to sit on the couch, where a large ceramic bowl full of hot water would be on the floor waiting, and he'd gently clean the blood from her feet, massage them, and wrap them. His large hands more caring with her feet than any man before ever was with her heart.

She was quickly falling for David Jacobs. There was absolutely no doubt about it.

It scared her so much that on the Sunday before the American holiday of Thanksgiving, she told him she couldn't go on their date and instead she hustled over to the theater to practice furiously as she searched for a way to protect herself from the inevitable. A few times she'd stop for water and to press her face on the cold window overlooking the street and each time she did it, she peered out at New York City and continually recognized the same familiar face below.

After the fourth break and the same face below, she called it quits and headed out of the theater, walking quickly on numbed feet to lose him, but when she stopped to peek behind her, she saw him quickly hide in an alley.

He was good. But, she would be better. She hurried towards the next alley and pressed herself flush against the wall. Thirty seconds later, he turned the corner with eyebrows puckered and pulled up short as she turned on him, "Why are you following me?" She asked, glaring up into blue eyes that were strangely familiar, as she'd told him the first time they'd met. Carlos had facial qualities that made her think she'd met him before.

Carlos quirked a dark eyebrow, "I thought you knew, Ms. Teleshova. We've been keeping an eye on you and Natalia since the break in."

She folded her arms, "There hasn't been any more attempts, no threatening letters, or anything, no?" She paused as he slowly shook his head, "Then why continue to follow us?"

"Just because he's laying low, doesn't mean you're not in danger." He informed her, silkily.

Despite the fact that she'd been to four Monday night dinners with this man, she still knew very little about him. She knew Race used to gamble, but now only made bets with his wife, knew Blink was an ex-scoundrel who'd settled down with Katy and could crack jokes that made her nearly choke on her drink, and that Mush was as sweet as the chocolates his wife made…but she didn't know Carlos except that he was a private investigator, that he was completely besotted with his new wife, Sophie, and that he'd apparently been following her for a month.

"I don't feel in danger." She told him, except for the potential to lose her heart to David. "Could it be he doesn't know which room we moved to?"

Carlos' disconcerting eyes against a dusky complexion seemed to absorb every detail about her before he made up his mind, "I suspect he's been silenced by someone else."

"David?" She asked, eyes going wide at the thought of David knowing who was after her and dealing with it alone.

But, Carlos shook his head, "If David knew who it was, I wouldn't still be following you. It would be done with and you'd be safe. This is an outside source from us." He looked perturbed by that, "But, I'm working on it, _hermana_ , no need to fear." He added, almost as an afterthought.

" _Hermana_? What does that mean?" She inquired, distracted from the topic by a new language. Her parents taught her Russian and English growing up, her father usually speaking English since he spent a better part of his childhood in England, whereas her mother struggled with the language. She'd known Russian and French, since she had visited her aunt from Paris quite often. But, neither of her parents knew Spanish.

Carlos' shoulders tensed almost imperceptibly, "Dancer. Now, you should get back to the hotel. It's unsafe on the streets after dark."

Nina regarded him, "Walk with me?" She then pointed out, "It's less weird than stalking me." Which brought a half smile to his face. He was actually handsome when he smiled.

They left the alley and walked in a companionable silence for a block or so before he cleared his throat, "What was it like, growing up in Russia?"

She shrugged, "Alright, I guess. Rather lonely as an only child. Cold, long winters." Nina felt awkward, not used to talking about herself with a stranger. Especially, a tall, dark, mysterious stranger such as Carlos.

"Did you want siblings?" He asked, his voice a tad gruff.

Peeking at him from the corner of her eye, she saw his face was in a cool mask of indifference. The kind she used when she didn't want people to see too much of her, "Yes. Siblings would have been nice. My parents focused so much on me, it got a tad stifling." She paused before taking a leap and asking, "And what about you? Any siblings? What was it like growing up in New York?"

Really, she hadn't expected him to answer, assumed he was being polite by asking her questions, getting to know the woman David brought to dinner every week, but when he answered it felt like this moment meant more to him than she could comprehend, "Uh, no siblings. But, Race and I were as close as brothers growing up. We had a falling out after we became orphans."

"What happened to your parents?" She asked, disliking the thought of him being an orphan, although it wasn't like she wasn't an orphan, too.

It was his turn to shrug nonchalantly, "My father left my mother before she knew she was pregnant with me. She raised me, but she died when I was nine. Pneumonia. She got caught in a rainstorm on her way home from work one evening and she was gone in less than a week."

The undercurrent of emotion caught her interest and she gazed up at him solemnly, reaching out to touch his arm lightly, "I'm sorry, Carlos."

"Thank you."

She dropped her hand and felt like she should share something as meaningful, "My mother died of a cancer. The doctors gave her six months, but she survived a year. My father told me she was in great pain." But, talking about it brought back the fresh grief of the letters tucked in her lacquer box. If she'd have opened one, she would have known her mother was ill. Would have written to her and perhaps her mother wouldn't have held on in pain for so long.

A flash of empathy crossed his face and he returned her gesture of lightly squeezing her arm, "My deepest apologies. I'm sure she was an amazing woman, much like yourself."

His words touched her and she was surprised and disappointed as they reached the Benjamin. "Thank you. It means a lot. I see you tomorrow evening at dinner, yes?"

He smiled warmly, "I wouldn't miss it, _se_ _ñ_ _orita_."

* * *

Carlos watched Nina enter the hotel where David was quick to greet her. He scowled slightly, watching David gaze at his sister like that sitting uneasy with him. Of all the men Nina could have, why would she settle on David? Carlos shook his head and turned away from the scene. David Jacobs wanted all of New York to see him as a young, aspiring, and sensible businessman and perhaps he was-but, Carlos suspected there was more to it. There had to be more to David than that, had to be an undercurrent of ruthlessness or a tie to some corruption. No one was really as good on the inside as they appeared on the outside.

Sophie was the only exception.

He was just about to head home when the front door opened and Nikolai stepped out onto the street, heading the opposite way of Carlos' home. Cursing silently, Carlos quickly tailed the guy, suspicion rising in his gut every time he saw the Russian man. Despite David and Jack both agreeing the man didn't raise any red flags, Carlos wasn't so convinced. He'd been wary of the man since gathering intel on everyone in the company because inquiries on Nikolai Kostova generated very little information.

Which was not usually a good thing in Carlos' experience.

Kostova moved through the streets with a grace that seemed inherent in all of the ballerinas and he moved with more purpose this evening than Carlos ever remembered. Any time the man was with Natalia, he'd walked lazily, shortening his strides so that the tiny, blonde could keep up easily with him. Now, Carlos found it hard to keep up with him, which wasn't something the Spaniard was used to. Particularly when Nikolai slid suddenly down an alley, melding with the shadows in a way that was entirely all too familiar to the former skip trace.

Hesitantly, Carlos followed, lengthening the distance and moving more cautiously as he turned down the same alley and found Nikolai knocking on a door. Two knocks, three knocks, pause, one knock on the door as he tucked a scrap of paper in his pocket and Carlos ducked behind a tall tower of old newspapers as the man checked that he wasn't being followed. Heart pounding, Carlos listened as the door opened, Russian words were exchanged, a grunt, and then silence.

Carlos was pretty sure he was long past being surprised by things, but when he peeked around the stack of papers and saw a man half in and half out of the door, dead eyes staring into the dark alley, he realized that his gut wasn't wrong.

There was definitely a reason no one wanted to talk to him about Nikolai Kostova.

* * *

David shifted nervously behind her and she found herself raising an eyebrow, "Is something on your mind, David?" She asked, unlocking her hotel room door and inviting him in with a tilt of her head.

"Uh, yeah. I was going to ask earlier but, you cancelled and I know it's kind of short notice…" He trailed off as he helped Nina out of her coat and she pulled it out of his hands and hung it up before realizing she was still in her dance tunic, which was really just a glorified chemise, and she felt a blush rise on her cheeks as a molten heat pooled in the pit of her stomach at his stare. The others in the company were used to seeing each other in such garb, but a man like David would not be.

She found herself empowered by his speechlessness. "Eyes up here, David." She purred, feeling a tantalizing spark sizzle up her spine, familiar to her from the night she'd knocked upon his hotel door. He gulped and raised his normally wintry blues, now darkened with desire, and she felt a smile curl her lips as she enjoyed his discomfort. "Do you like my dance tunic?" She asked, lightly, running her fingers down it and turning in a slow circle for him.

His shoulders stiffened, and she suspected another part of him did as well as he turned his back to her and cleared his throat, "Y-yes. It's lovely but I apologize, I didn't realize you needed to-" he swallowed once more, "Change clothes."

Nina felt tempted to tease him and she took a few steps to rest her hand on one of his tense shoulders, "We wear this every day at practice, I guess I'm so used to it I didn't even think that it might be a touch inappropriate…"

David quickly turned to assure her, like the gentleman he was, "No, if it's what you p-practice in..." He trailed off as his eyes fell on her outfit once more and he stuttered, lamely, "…t-then it's fine." He paused before adding, "Who am I to tell you to change?"

She laughed, a big, belly laugh, as she recalled all his bossy moments with his staff over the last three weeks, "That's right." She told him, saucily, "I'm not Skittery, you can't tell me I'm not in employee dress code." She sauntered over to the small cart in the corner of the sitting room that David kept stocked with vodka specifically for her, "Would you like a drink?" She asked, surprised he hadn't found a comeback for her.

Glancing over her shoulder, she caught him loosening his tie and staring at her legs that were only covered by thin, white stockings and she felt a tug of a satisfied smile as he shook his head and answered, "S-sure."

Oftentimes he had a smooth way with words, but sometimes she caught him stuttering over them when she did something as simple as lick pudding off a spoon. He made her feel so seductive even when she wasn't trying to be. And when they were together, she forgot about how terrifying all of these feelings were. She smiled at him over the rim of her glass as she brought his over and she made sure their hands brushed as he took it, his eyes trained on her as he brought the glass to his mouth. "You really wear that every day at practice?" He asked before he took a sip.

"Mhm." She made the affirmative noise, feeling giddy when he seemed pleased with the sound.

His eyes avoided her as he said, "Maybe I should come watch you practice."

She raised an eyebrow, "Maybe next Sunday you can watch me practice by my lonesome." Nina paused, sipping her vodka and then remembering their earlier conversation and asking, before he could say yes or no to that, "What were you going to ask me earlier?"

David still seemed a little preoccupied with her outfit, his gaze flitting over her body quickly before turning away, as though he was fighting the un-gentlemanly behavior. "What? Oh, yes. I was going to see if you, uh-" A sudden, shy expression appeared on his handsome face, "If you wanted to come to Thanksgiving with me."

A shot of anxiety cut through her gut as she thought of what that would mean for their current relationship but it was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer pleasure she felt at being asked out by him. They hadn't really spoken of what this was between them, but they often ended their time together with kisses of bridled passion, or he'd sneak a kiss from her before they went out. He'd been initiating them more and more, as if to make up for the fact that he didn't do it the first two times.

Everything between them felt like a long, slow burn and she was afraid it was going to get snuffed out before she gained the courage to tell him exactly how she felt about him, "Yes, David. I'd like that a lot." She tried to contain her excitement, but she wondered if he could tell just how happy she was.

He gave her a grin that lit his whole face up and he stepped closer to her to give her a peck on the cheek. His warm, soft lips brushing her skin wasn't enough to satisfy her for tonight and she reached out and took his drink and set them on the end table before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

The rumble deep in the back of his throat spurred a side of Nina she did not know on and she pressed her hands to his chest to push him back and onto the couch behind him. He broke the kiss off long enough to gasp at falling backwards, his eyes wide as he gazed up at her with a tenderness that brought to mind all of his friends and their significant others. She felt a giggle escape her lips as she crawled on top of him, cupping his face in her hands tenderly as he watched her curiously.

"That was…unexpected." He murmured, eyes as blue a cloudless summer sky.

"Shhhh." She replied, placing one finger on his lips, "Sometimes I have a moment of recklessness. Don't scare it away, just enjoy it."

His mouth hooked up and he kissed the finger she put on his lips before enclosing his hand around it and then leaning up to capture her lips with his. His hands slid down to her waist and they were warm even through her tunic, seeming to send heat throughout her whole body as their kissing grew wilder. David Jacobs had a passion in him that he must keep a tight rein on because while his kissing grew more fervent, his hands didn't roam. He let her take the lead on how slow or fast they went, let her give as much as she wanted while meeting it without taking more than she was willing to give.

She let out a soft moan as he trailed kisses down her neck, her breath and heart erratic as one of his big hands softly ran up and down her back, soothing her while simultaneously stoking her desire. Nina didn't think she was ready to give all of herself to this man, but she was pretty damn close when his touch was both hot and gentle.

They both froze as they heard Natalia's key in the lock, her humming loud enough to be heard over their breathing but the blonde ballerina's movements quicker than their reaction to her entrance. Natalia halted just as the door shut behind her and she stared at the sight of the two on the couch, lips red from kissing, Nina straddled on top of David.

Her laughter was loud in the suite, "Oh, I have _got_ to tell Jack about this tomorrow night." The couple hastily stood and smoothed their clothes as the blonde continued to laugh and make her way to her room, "Don't mind me, dahlings. Carry on!" She called out as she shut her bedroom door.

They watched the door shut behind Natalia and then they gazed at each other for a few moments, "She ruined the mood, no?" Nina whispered.

Her question caused him to chuckle, his face so achingly handsome to her that she wanted to curl up in his arms and just _be_ with him. "A little." He reached out and smoothed her hair, kissing her on top of her head, "It's alright, though." He wrapped his arms around her, as though he knew she just wanted to held, and they stood there for a long time, neither ready to let go just yet.

 **A/N: Ahhhh, they're so cuuuute. Thank you to WordyAF, my lovely guest reviewer, and bexlynne for taking the time to review last chapter! You guys are awesome and I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you thought of my mysterious Nikolai and the adorable couple that is Nina and David!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	17. Chapter 17

" _Isn't it_

 _Breathtakingly_

 _Beautiful_

 _How you've learned_

 _To grow flowers_

 _From the memories_

 _That died_

 _A long time ago"_

 _-_ Noor Unnahar

* * *

David shifted on his feet as he raised his hand to knock on the door. After Minny's death, it was hard for him to come here, but for some reason tonight wasn't so bad. He felt more nervous than upset, as though he'd changed a great deal since he'd seen Edith six weeks ago-though, even at Minny's grave he'd felt different.

He still mourned the first girl he'd ever loved, but the grief receded as the tide and he felt so far inland from it that the threat of the waves could no longer touch him. It was all…in the past.

Edith opened the door, looking lovely for a woman in her forties, who'd suffered through the loss of her husband and daughter. It was easy to see where Minny got her beauty from, though Edith's black hair was peppered with grey strands Minny's would never see. "David." She greeted, "You always look so handsome. Come in. Happy Thanksgiving eve, dear."

"Happy Thanksgiving eve." He replied, kissing her cheek and handing her a bottle of wine as he stepped into the small apartment. He stopped as he took in the couple sitting at the table, both rising to their feet at his entrance.

"Thank you for the wine." Edith smiled, "David, this is my sister, Mary. She's in from Philadelphia, visiting. And this is my friend, Charley."

He nodded at them, feeling a tad out of place, "Nice to meet you both." He told them, awkwardly taking off his coat and hanging it on the coat rack by the door. In the years he'd been coming over the night before Thanksgiving, never was there other guests. They'd shared a small meal, just the two of them, reminiscing about Minny and Will. They'd toast to them and go their separate ways until March when they'd meet back up at the gravestones.

It wasn't the best way to mourn, perhaps, but it was their tradition.

"Sit down, David. Edi always tells me of the strapping young man who loved our Minny and I'm surprised this is the first time we've met." Mary said, the family resemblance between the two so strong that it gave David a good idea of how well Minny would have aged.

For some reason, his mind wandered, quite suddenly, to how beautiful Nina would look aged, with peppered hair and soft laugh lines.

"I…uh, missed the funeral." He said, taking a seat they offered and wondering how he could be thinking of Nina in this place that was cluttered with memories of Minny. His past laid out before him and still his thoughts went to…to his future. The thought sent a wave of fear and, strangely enough, comfort.

Mary sat down, too, and propped her chin on her hand as she surveyed him with dark, glittering eyes, "That's forgivable, all that matters is that you were there when she needed you. At the end."

He dropped his eyes and shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. "We usually just talk about the good times." He murmured, looking up at Edi, who was setting dinner on the table. Charley was also watching Edith with an affectionate light in his pale, blue eyes. He hadn't spoken a word since David entered the room, but he'd listened politely to the conversation.

"How did you and Minny meet, then?" Mary asked, pulling her shawl around her thin shoulders and relaxing back in her chair as though preparing for a good story. Edith sat, too, and it was strange having two pairs of eyes that were so similar to Minny's on him.

Chuckling, David recalled the first day he'd gotten the courage to speak to Minny Elliot. "I worked across the street, at the Chelsea, and I'd see her everyday coming home from work and one day, I was working out front and this strange sort of courage came over me and I yelled out to her as she started to go inside…" He shook his head, remembering how he'd gulped hard as her ochre eyes landed on him, her face hardening just as touch as she looked at him with an almost disdainful expression. "She walked right up to me and told me she wasn't to be hollered at by mere bellboys and that if I wanted to get her attention, I'd have to be more respectful. I told her I was a doorman, technically, and that seemed to piss her off, which wasn't what I was trying to do." He added, laughing as Mary and Edith chuckled at that.

"Minny was a pistol." Mary said, sipping the glass of wine Edith set down in front of her. "Spoiled rotten by you, Edi, and headstrong. I helped her with some homework once and she threw a fit when I told her the answer she had was wrong." Minny's aunt shook her head, a look of affection and exasperation mingling bittersweetly on her face.

Edith smiled, "I shouldn't have spoiled her. But, it was tough raising her without her father. And I sidled her with the name Benjamin, poor child."

Mary laughed, "Benjamin for a girl. Minny for a nickname. You should have just called her by her middle name. Perhaps that woulda done less damage."

"I couldn't. William wanted to name our child Benjamin. He was _so_ sure it would be a boy. But, then he died and I committed to the name in his memory…and out pops a little girl, all beauty and spice." Edith sighed and reached over to touch David's hand, "That girl scared away every other boy with her bossiness and rancor. Until you came along, David."

His brow furrowed as he tried to look at the Minny from Edith and Mary's point of view, which sounded slightly at odds with his memories of her. He could still see her smiling up at him, wearing her favorite yellow dress that she swore pulled out the green in her brown eyes, looking like all that was good and youthful in the world with her dark hair piled up on top of her head.

Yet, even as he remembered her like that, he began to recall all the times he'd tried to tease her or jokingly correct something she said and he sat back in his chair as he pictured her face pinching in anger. She'd often throw tantrums when corrected and she didn't always listen when he talked about work and almost always turned the subject back to her…was he so blinded by her initial beauty that he overlooked the streak of spite and selfishness in her? One time, when he hadn't shown up at her work and walked her home because he'd been asked to cover someone's shift, she'd spent two weeks freezing him out. Giving him the cold shoulder as though he'd done something far worse than he did. It wasn't until he spent his savings on a pretty, overpriced necklace that she'd forgiven him.

"Well, dinner is ready if everyone is hungry." Edith said, pulling David from his thoughts and making him realize he'd never replied to her comment. They'd been sitting in an awkward silence as he came to terms with the truth of what Minny had been like.

He felt sick, suddenly, and he swallowed back bile as he allowed Edith to take his plate and fill it with mashed potatoes, roast beef, and carrots. Mary started telling a story about her journey from Philadelphia and Charley asked a few questions to keep up the conversation as David sat there quietly and ate food that tasted like ash in his mouth.

It was one thing to love an imperfect girl, he decided, it was quite another to turn a blind eye to the imperfections for eight years. Why was he only now looking at her as she was and not as he thought her to be? He suddenly felt a stab of regret as he thought of how he'd named his hotel after her. His hotel that he'd lovingly polished and built up from the haggard, skeleton of a building into something that awed thousands of people a day.

Perhaps she would have matured out of her selfish and spitefulness, but there was no way to know for certain. Minny was not the girl on a pedestal he believed was too good for him but who'd spent the last six months of her life allowing him to court her. Now, she was a flawed individual that he was beginning to realize might not have even shared feelings for him. When she'd become ill, David confessed that he loved her in the hopes it would give her the strength to get better.

Minny never told him she loved him back. He hadn't realized it then, too caught up in his grief and overlooking it because she allowed him to hold her as she fought for her last breaths. That meant she loved him, right? Why let a man hold you as your life slipped away if you didn't really care for him?

"David, are you alright?" Edith asked as Mary took everyone's plates and began to do the dishes. He met Edith's eyes and she seemed to immediately understand, "Let's go into the hallway." She murmured. Mary and Charley made no comment as he followed the smaller woman out into the narrow corridor of the apartment building and she lead him to the stairs where a drunk man snored. "David, I can see you're struggling with the truth." She twisted her hands, "I've never said an ill thing about my daughter to you, but I'm afraid Mary doesn't censor herself so."

She paused, meeting his eye steadily, "I loved Minny, you know that. But, a mother knows that her child is not always going to be perfect and Minny was far from it. A lot of it was my fault. I had to work to keep a roof over our heads and I didn't get the time with her I should have, so I spoiled her. She had her moments of being wonderful, but as her mother I got front row seats to the bad moments, too. Minny was a beautiful girl, but she liked things her way and she liked the attention you gave her."

He ran a hand through his hair, "Did she even care about me? Or just liked the way I fawned over her?" He scuffed his boot on the wooden floorboards, feeling silly at being used, even if he hadn't realized it at the time.

Edith set a soft hand on his shoulder, "She cared about you, in her own selfish way, but I think a lot of it was the attention. If she hadn't gotten ill…we don't know things for sure, David, but I always liked you. I think she would have grown tired, though. She was the pistol Mary spoke of and I'm afraid she would have found a man more inclined to danger and she would have chased that. You would have been too safe for her."

David felt a ridiculous chuckle that lacked humor pull from his throat, "Too safe." He muttered, feeling the exact opposite of safe as emotions long held back seemed to overwhelm him.

"David, I…" Edith trailed off for a moment before collecting her courage and saying, "I saw the newspaper article of you and the ballerina?"

He felt his cheeks heat up. The damn photograph of their kiss was plastered on the front page of every newspaper the day after their first date, leading everyone to ask about it in the three weeks since-even his vendors forgot their professionalism to make some remark. "Nina's the first woman I've liked since Minny." He confessed to her.

"Charley is the first man I've liked since Will." She smiled softly as she looked to her apartment door, "I'm happy to see you moving on, really I am. But, I just want you to be careful. I know I don't know this Nina, but perhaps it's a good thing you realized this stuff with Minny now, after so long. I wouldn't want you to make the same mistake." Her pointed look as she said that made David rethink every blissful moment with Nina the last three weeks. It instantly brought his mood down from bad to foul as he watched his future start to wither in his mind's eye.

"Thanks for the advice, Edith." He murmured, "I should be heading back, though."

She softly squeezed his arm before nodding and letting him move past her to take the stairs down to the street. He didn't think she meant to sow seeds of doubt, only to rethink how he tended to view things with rose-colored glasses, but they began to grow anyway. Nina was a ballerina that was fawned over by more men than David could even imagine and despite all the intimate moments and conversations they shared, wasn't she just a professional version of who he was realizing Minny had been all along? Could he even begin to give Nina the amount of attention all her fans gave her once she retired? Or would she grow bored or want something dangerous to chase after, too?

When he met Nina, hadn't their conversation also begun with a small fight, of her telling him how to run his business? Was he really so stupid as to fall for a second woman who liked nothing but the attention he poured on her? Hadn't she come to his hotel room and kissed him because of the basket of _things_ he'd given her?

Doubt, anger, and hurt warred for first place as he hustled along the streets, the emotions quickening his steps as part of him tried to think logically. Didn't Nina say she was tired of being a ballerina? Didn't that mean she wouldn't be interested in the continual butt kissing of fans that she was used to? In the beginning, he hadn't fawned over her, he even tried to keep his distance, and still _she_ pursued _him_ , right?

But, a whisper of fear in the back of his mind said that he was making excuses for her. She wanted to be idolized, why else would you become a dancer? She liked attention, was used to it. And wasn't she also an only child? Spoiled, selfish, and probably spiteful if she needed to contend for the Prima Ballerina position.

And he was falling just as fast for her as he did for Minny.

He was absolutely pathetic.

* * *

"David, are you alright?" Vivian's soft voice pulled David from where he stood in the kitchen, staring at dirty dishes from the Thanksgiving buffet they held for newsboys and orphans every year, as though they held the secrets to the universe. Everyone was in the restaurant, laughing and chatting as they made sure all the children were served and fed. The kitchen staff had just been sent home to be with their families and he had to clean up and get ready for his own Thanksgiving night, but instead he was staring at all the dishes. They weren't a priority, it was a holiday after all, the dishes weren't going anywhere and they could wait until early Friday morning. Still, he itched to start cleaning them than face the evening he'd been excited about before last night.

He slowly pulled his eyes from it to look over at Mush's wife, "Wha-yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." He hadn't slept much, his mind comparing every little detail he could remember with Minny and tossing it at each, precious moment between him and Nina. He knew it wasn't fair to her, but he felt like this was some sort of self-preservation mode to protect him from making the same mistake twice.

Vivian narrowed her sky-colored eyes at him and took a step closer, scrutinizing his face in a way that was eerie as she murmured, "If something's wrong, you can tell me."

The low, kind words touched him. He didn't feel particularly close to any of his friends' wives, but Vivian was always sweet, soft spoken, and honest. She complimented Mush's trusting, open nature in a way that no one had previously-the four women he dated prior to Vivian took advantage of his easygoing attitude to manipulate him at every turn. Vivian, however, had been careful with him because she herself barely survived a marriage to a man who abused her. When David thought about that, it occurred to him that the woman in front of him might understand his problem a hell of a lot better than anyone else he knew. He glanced around and then lightly touched her elbow and inclined his head to Blink's empty office, "Can I ask you something?"

She nodded and allowed him to lead her to the office where he shut the door and sighed as he debated where to start. "Let's start at the beginning." She said, as though reading his mind as she took a seat in Blink's chair and folded her hands, looking at him expectantly.

He felt a small smile pull the corners of his lips at her receptiveness. "Well, uh," He paused because he'd never really spoken about Minny to anyone besides Edith or his family. Vivian's nod for him to continue, though, opened a strange floodgate within him and he found himself pouring it all out on the table for her, "I l-loved a girl, or thought I did, when I was younger, a few months after the strike. Her name was Minny, short for Benjamin." He gave her a sheepish smile as her face lit up at realizing he'd named the hotel after someone, but he barreled on, half-turning away from Vivian's astute eyes, "At the time, it was this fierce, overwhelming love and every second spent with her was like being on opium-not that I know what that's like. But, I can imagine. It was all-consuming and everything she did was wonderful and then...and then she died." He held his arms out, forgetting for second all the awful realizations and just remembering what it felt like to lose the person who caused you to feel _so_ alive. "Died right in my arms." He murmured, remembering her weight there, and the last, strained breaths that rattled from her, the grief that suddenly felt like a hundred foot wave despite the fact that he'd felt so far from it just the night before, "I grieved for so long, filled all of my spare time with work. I allowed myself three days a year to think of her; her birthday, her death day, and Thanksgiving Eve when I visited her mother. In the very apartment she died."

Swallowing past the lump, he dropped his arms and chanced a glance over at Vivian, whose eyes were brimming with empathy and unspilled tears at his words. He looked away quickly, unable to handle it, "But, what do you do, Vivian, when you look back...when you heal and remember that she used to give you the cold shoulder for days and weeks on end? When she'd scream at you for simply talking to a maid? When her mother tells you the truth of her character that you overlooked because you were young and dumb and in love?" He felt frustration claw in the pit of his stomach, "What do you do when you look at the woman you like now and see similarities there that scare you? Make you think you're making the mistake again? That you're once more blinded by her faults because she's just so _damn_ beautiful to look at. Like, when you watch lightning because it's beautiful but forget it could strike you dead in a swift second?"

The chair scrapping on the floor brought his gaze back to Vivian's as she stood up, a fierce look on her face, "David Jacobs," She began, walking slowly around the desk, "I've watched you and Nina for weeks at Monday night dinner and I know I don't know a thing about this Minny. What I do know, is that woman looks at you when you're not paying any attention and you could have sworn she'd witnessed a miracle. She looks at you like you wrote her a love song and sang it to her in front of everyone. I've seen that woman when you're not around and she looks lost, alone, and cold. The second you walk in, she melts and smiles like you just battled an army to be with her." She took a breath, in front of him now, and then spoke vehemently, "Sometimes we make the wrong choice, in order to lead us to the right one. Minny's death led you to building this grand hotel and you might have named it after her, but it's something so much greater than that girl will ever be. Its class and reputation is what led the Russian Ballet here, to spend three months at _your_ hotel. It led to you meeting Nina. Don't throw what you two have away by comparing her to a ghost. It's not fair for either one of you."

A knock on the door broke their eye contact, both turning as Mush peeked his curly head into the doorway, "Hey, guys, everything awright?" He asked, looking between the two of them.

"Fine, love. Just giving David advice on love." Vivian told him, smiling as she walked towards him.

"I didn't think David needed advice on anything." Mush replied, giving David a toothy smile, "Given the goo-goo eyes you and Nina make at each othah, I wouldn't think ya'd need it!" He added, ushering Vivian out of the office and continuing to chat at her about what was going out in the restaurant.

David watched them, a flickering flame of hope warming his gut as he watched the way Mush pressed a hand to the small of her back and maneuvered her through the kitchen as though she was made of spun glass. Vivian's first marriage had given her a sharp, shrewd skill at judging people. He trusted her advice, but he still felt a sense of unease. He remembered he'd asked Carlos to keep a close eye on Nina, which he ended up doing anyway due to the break in, but perhaps he'd follow up with the skip trace.

He needed assurance that his brain wasn't being blinded by his heart.

 **A/N: Loves and thanks to those who review every chapter, bexlynne, guest, and WordyAF. To everyone reading, thank you for continuing to do so and I hope you all are enjoying! Drop me a review to get me through my final projects and papers this weekend! ;)**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	18. Chapter 18

" _& they call us_

' _hard women'_

 _As if survival_

 _Could ever be delicate."_

-Clementine Von Radics

* * *

After a late night drinking and gossiping with Natalia, Nina woke up far later in the day than she could remember ever sleeping. Her short, blonde friend was a bad influence when it came to partying and Nina felt it as she stumbled out of bed and made for the wash room, her head pounding like a stampede of horses.

She let hot water soothe away her hangover and felt excited and refreshed by the time she made her way downstairs. She was looking forward to spending the evening with David and his family. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been around a real, honest to goodness family and she thought she could end up liking this American holiday of thankfulness.

"Hello, Greg. Where's David?" She asked the front desk clerk, smiling as his ruddy cheeks blushed at her greeting. He was older than David and his friends, but a kind man who spoke softly and whose wife and children would often stop in and visit. He had a brood of four, from seven years old down to just under a year, and she'd seen Mush rolling around in the lobby with the eldest boy not only once but at least three times in the short time she'd been here.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Teleshova. He went upstairs to freshen up about twenty minutes ago. Would you like to wait in his office? There's a lot of reporters hanging around outside to grab photographs of what the Ballerinas are doing for the holiday." Greg inclined his head towards the front and Nina saw a few cameras and faces peeking in the front doors.

While Nina was used to the fans, the reporters, and often being swarmed by attention, just glimpsing them at the front doors brought her hangover back full force. "I'll just wait in his office, yes?"

He nodded, smiling apologetically and waving her around back of the desk. She thanked him and went down the hallway, opening the door and immediately being greeted by David's familiar scent. It comforted her as she moved to sit behind his desk in the comfy leather chair, her eyes skimming the few things hung on the wall. The newspaper clipping of the newsboy strike, with Jack circled and the words 'NOT ALLOWED ON HOTEL GROUNDS' below it, a painting of a wooded forest, and another newspaper clipping of the Hotel's opening. 'THE YOUNGEST HOTELIER OPENS THE BENJAMIN HOTEL' the headline read, a photograph of David cutting a ribbon in front of the hotel just below. She furrowed her brows as she got out of the chair and took a closer look at David seven years ago.

He didn't look happy, that was for sure. He'd just opened an entire hotel, convinced powerful, rich men to be stakeholders, to trust him with their money, and he looked less than thrilled to be cutting that ribbon. His smile was fake, his shoulders drooping, and he looked tired and wrung out. It hurt her heart to see him like that. Lightly, she brushed her finger along the glass where his face was wincing at the camera, half wishing she could have been there to celebrate with him, to make the day special for him like it should have been.

Turning away from the stranger in the photograph, she sat back down in the chair and looked over the reports on his desk. His handwriting was neat, but slanted as though he rushed to write everything faster than his hand could go. Part of her felt like snooping, but she tried to restrain it in order to be respectful. Until she remembered him snooping through her nightstand. Of course, that was because of the break in, she reasoned, but that rationale wasn't enough to quench her curiosity. Half of her wanted to find something about the 'Minny' that she hadn't brought up since their first date.

The first two drawers were boring, papers she wasn't interested in and mostly about the hotel. Vendors and receipts, some extra fountain pens. But, the bottom drawer…Her eyes immediately found the file with her name and she pulled it out before she could think better of it. She caught a few other names from the company, clearly David was interested in who came into his hotel, and she bit her lip as she set her folder on top of the desk and, with shaking hands, opened it.

A photograph of her from a couple years ago was the first thing inside, followed by a report of her parentage, history with the company, and…and everything down to the man she wanted to leave the company for at sixteen. Stumped to see such detail written about her by a stranger, she sat back and stared at her file as a small fire of anger began to swell in her gut. She flipped to the last page and found a few more scribbled notes, these ones different from the other script, but she recognized they were by David himself. Notes on what he found she liked and disliked, food she'd ordered from the dining room, and musings of the letters she kept but never read from her mother. He'd made a few guesses about why the letters weren't read, but only one was circled, _Ivan?_.

It felt awful to see how much he obviously thought and guessed about her, all laid out in this folder. She felt exposed, naked, and vulnerable. Clearly, he hadn't meant for her to see it, but now that she was looking at it, she felt…less than human. A character in a story, a paper drawing, only as deep as this slim folder. It was the worst feeling she'd ever known and she mourned the fact that it was caused by the one person who'd also given her the best feelings she'd ever experienced.

It was awful that the two opposing emotions were given by one man. She felt her heart starting to break, the sound rushing through her ears and blocking out everything around her for a moment before she took a deep breath to center herself, like she did before a show.

Just as she was managing to reign in her anger, he appeared in the doorway, buttoning his sleeve and looking contemplative and withdrawn, "Nina? Are you ready?" He asked, slowly bringing his gaze from his sleeve up to look at her.

In a matter of mere half seconds, every muscle in his body froze as he caught her sitting at his desk, her folder opened before her. She knew he knew it was her folder because her photo was face up on top of the first few pages and his eyes fell on it before rising to meet hers. "I can explain." He murmured, so quickly it was as though he'd been prepared to defend himself from his guilt and snooping since the moment they'd met.

Betrayal cut through her heart at those words and she was swamped with an anger she hadn't felt since she was sixteen. "You better have a good one, _Svolotch_." _Pig_. She bit out, standing up with her hands braced on the desk, meeting his light, blue eyes with a glare. Nina wasn't even sure she wanted to hear his petty excuses for such violation of her privacy. It was too much, in this moment, to believe he could cut her down to a few mere sentences in a flimsy paper folder.

He sighed, moving to shut the office door and she shook her head violently, " _No,_ do not close that door. Let others hear about this violation. This _chush' sobach'ya!_ " _Bullshit_. She felt her whole body vibrate with the anger.

"They all know I have files on them." David said, in such a reasonable tone that it made her even more furious. As though she was overreacting.

"You keep file on all your _friends_?" She sneered, shocked and appalled. How could they know about this and accept it without a word of dissent? How could they not feel degraded and small? Everything that made you happy or upset written down in notes in these folders for David to look over as he pleased. It was an outrage!

He ran a hand through his curly, brown hair…hair she'd run her own hands through and with hands that touched her with such tenderness it made her knees weak. Nina pushed her thoughts from that direction, from the attraction, unwilling to give into it when she was so upset with him. "I…need files, Nina. Organize my thoughts. Who to trust, what I can trust them with…" His gaze shifted from her, like he was thinking of something but didn't want to tell her.

"So, you can pick and choose how close they get to you. Keep everyone at a distance." The words were out as she realized the truth, "How _neat_ of a system, David. Wish we all could keep files on everyone. Learn all their…" She let out a frustrated growl as she searched for the English word she needed, "… _unclean_ secrets but never tell them any of yours. Unless they have a file on you, yes?" Her has risen with each word and she picked up the folder, pushing the papers in and holding it up to him as she moved towards him, her words filtering down the hallway and probably towards the lobby. She didn't know if anyone would hear her, didn't know if anyone would even care, but, then, neither did.

"Nina…" He began, reaching out to touch her, but there was a bleak look in his blue eyes and he didn't seem inclined to fight her on this.

Once more, she fell for a man who wouldn't fight for her. She was so incredibly stupid. "No, David, I'm done with the excuses. I should have known you would be fluent in betrayal, for someone who complained about Jack's betrayal for so long, you sure know how it's done right."

It was a low blow and she didn't think the words would be very effective since the two made up almost a month ago, but she saw him wince and ignored it as she pushed past him to get away, "I'm keeping this." She added, referring to the folder, and she didn't look back as she went down the hall. She didn't even blink or register the fact that almost all of his friends were out in the lobby, silently listening to the entire blow out. She ignored them, her face the cold mask she was used to using when she walked through the crowd of ballerinas and she headed straight for the elevators.

The bellboy didn't say a word as she got on the elevator and no one followed her to defend David, and he didn't run after her apologizing, which turned her anger into a fierce heartache that she'd been pushing away. She caught her reflection in the plated, golden ceiling of the elevator as it dinged each floor and she barely recognized herself.

Hair done up for dinner, a pretty gown of dark blue, and a face that was set in such a severe frown, it was no wonder the younger girls were half terrified of her. The doors dinged open for her floor and she tore her gaze from the reflection and went to her room, eyes avoiding David's room, as she angrily opened the door to her suite and tossed the file on the table by the door.

She glared at it for a long moment, wondering how things turned from surreal and fantastical to absolute shit in just under an hour. She thought earlier today that this might become her favorite holiday, but right now it was the worst. To have such a big fight with David, for all his friends to hear, and end up alone in her hotel room? It was absolutely depressing.

Nina crossed the room to open a bottle of vodka, pressing the top to her lips and forgoing the glass. She wished she could talk to her best friend, but Natalia would undoubtedly hear about all of this from whoever was going to Race and Clara's for Thanksgiving. Jack had invited her to go as Clara's guest so she could meet Hazel without them disclosing the fact that they were seeing each other. She hoped her friend's evening went better than hers was currently going.

Sighing, feeling too many emotions, including pity, Nina wandered into her bedroom and, because she couldn't get any lower, she pulled out her lacquer box. Tucking it under her arm, she brought it out into the sitting room and took another swig as she grabbed the file and set it beside the lacquer box on the coffee table.

For a long time, she stared at them side by side, sipping the bottle of vodka and thinking. It was, after all, a man's fault for her ignoring those letters. So, then, it really wouldn't be a surprise if it was David's actions that pushed her to finally open them.

Setting the vodka down, she reached for the lacquer box and set it on her lap, her hands tracing the image of the couple on the large, gray wolf. Ivan and Helen. She'd loved this box since her uncle brought it for her when she was four years old, little hands lovingly touching the image from her favorite fairytale. Twelve years later, she'd fallen in love with a man named Ivan. She'd thought it was fate for them, she was home visiting her family for a few months while the tour was on a short break, he'd inherited the estate a few miles from her parents', and he was only ten years older than her. He visited her a few days a week, and they spent time together horseback riding or walking along a few wooded paths. He steadily wooed her with flowers and attention, promising her if she left the ballet she'd never want for anything despite the fact that she would someday inherit her own estate as the only heir of the Teleshova line. He'd even given her his mother's ring, promising her forever…

Her mother would not hear of her giving up her future and dreams for a man. She sent Nina back to Saint Petersburg immediately, forbidding the union and Nina was so _sure_ Ivan would follow her, would come to Saint Petersburg and whisk her back to his estate.

But, he didn't. He was not pleased that her parents were against the marriage, thinking them crazy for having her choose ballet over a marriage. He married another only a few months later, though she didn't learn of it until after her mother passed.

Her hand shook as she opened the box, thinking of how everyone this evening was with their family and she…she was about to be reunited with her mother through these letters. She felt a strange thrill of anticipation course up her spine as she ripped the envelop of the first one.

Finally, she was ready to read them.

" _Dearest Nina…_ " The words in her head were her mother's voice as she wrote about her last year of life. Her pain, the weakness, the memories from Nina's childhood. Her eyes widened as they read about Carmen Fuentes, recognizing the last name and she even gasped when she opened July's to find a picture of Carmen and…Carlos Fuentes. She recognized him even though he was only a child in the photograph, but even then, he held himself with a proud, defiant look as he held his mothers' hand. She clasped the photo to her chest, wondering if he knew their mothers used to correspond and deciding it was very possible he might.

Tears coursed down Nina's face when she read August, the story of the worst summer of her mother's life causing grief to build up in her chest. October was especially painful, the melancholy, the pain from the cancer…

November.

Her mother's final secret was now Nina's.

Nina stood and paced the length of the suite, wondering what to do about the secret, about the fact that the man she loved as her father growing up wasn't her _real_ father, about her half-brother she'd met and even had dinner with in ignorance! Did Carlos know? If he did, why didn't he say anything? Her mind whirled and she almost left right then and there.

But, there was one last letter. One left to read. December.

"... _please, give people a chance. Let the ones that want to stay, stay. Stop testing their mettle with your barbs and ice. Let them make mistakes and forgive them. In the end, the only one it hurts is you. When you fall in love again, know that it's alright to fight, but don't intentionally push him away. If he loves you, he'll fight even you to stay."_

She set the letter on the table and cried for a long time. Then, she stood up, smoothed her dress, placed all the letters back in the lacquer box, grabbed her coat, and left her room. Only one place made sense to go right now and she hoped whoever was at the front desk would know where he was.

 **A/N: Whew, David and Nina are so out of control right now. But, I'm completely in love with them. Loves and thank yous to my guest reviewer, bexlynne and WordyAF! Classes are now over with so I should have faster updates, except I don't want this story to ennnd! Ugh.**

 **Drop me a review because they make my day!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	19. Chapter 19

" _I can say with great certainty_

 _And absolute honesty_

 _That I did not know_

 _What love was_

 _Until I knew_

 _What love was not."_

 _-_ P.T. Herkey

* * *

David ran a hand over his face as Nina's footsteps, normally light as a feather but now a touch heavier due to her anger, disappeared down the hall with a whisper. He should be relieved this happened, in the event he wanted to cut and run if she was at all like Minny, but instead he felt awful and lost. Like his heart was just ripped from his chest. Like he'd lost an appendage, something vitally important to his being.

He'd screwed everything up.

Turning to leave his office, something caught his eye and he turned back to see her photograph was on the floor. It must have fallen out of her folder when she'd circled the desk, the small, square image stark against the deep brown of the carpeting. He knelt down and picked it up, hands shaking a tiny bit as he stared at her face from two years ago, no smile present. His mind replaced it with one of her smiling up at him, the tiniest hint of a dimple in the right cheek.

He'd totally, absolutely screwed everything up. "Fuck." He muttered, realizing too late that even if Nina shared some similarities with Minny, that didn't mean she was her. As Vivian said, he couldn't compare the two, as much as his awful, messed up brain wanted to.

Footsteps hurried down the hall and he turned his head so he could see Blink and Mush out of the corner of his eye as they stopped in the doorway. "Davey, you awright?" Mush asked, gently, brown eyes full of concern.

"I think guests ten floors up could hear Nina laying into you." Blink joked lightly, leaning a shoulder against the door frame and looking far less concerned than his best friend and causing David to sigh and stand up.

"I gotta go." He muttered, not meeting either of their gazes as he tried to step past them.

Each of them raised a hand to stop him before he could push through them, their hands pressing his chest and sending him back a few steps, "Dave, tawk ta us." Mush said, as they continued to push him back into the office. Mush stepped in front of him as Blink let go to shut the door, closing him into the small area where he'd just found Nina with his folder on her.

His gut tightened with something like anxiety as he thought of how upset she was. How he couldn't get the words out to explain to her why he needed those files. Part of him was only beginning to realize another reason for having them, "She found my folder on her." He told them miserably, folding his arms across his chest and slouching against his desk. "She's pissed and she feels…I don't know. Violated? And she'll probably never talk to me again."

"Now, now, no need for the dramatics." Blink replied, leaning against the office door as Mush gave David a little space, "This isn't the end of the world. Ya just gotta woo her back."

David sighed, annoyed, "How?" His question was more rhetorical, he didn't expect either of them to have a good idea.

"Well…" Mush began, uneasily.

Blink raised a slim eyebrow, "Well, tahnight ya let her cool off. Ladies need space."

Mush was nodding the moment Blink started to speak, like he'd agree with whatever words came out of his friends' mouth, "Yeah, yeah. When Viv's mad, Wes and I go out. Give her time ta cool off."

The blonde restaurant manager chuckled, "Like Vivian's ever mad at you."

A voice interrupt the friends before Mush could argue, "David, come to dinner, we'll think of a plan." Katherine's voice was muffled coming from the other side of the door, "These two will only talk your ear off. Come to dinner and the _women_ will help you win back Nina."

"I was just going to go to my parent's." David told her once Blink opened the door to show both Katherine and Vivian standing on the other side.

Both women looked at him with such compassion, he felt slightly humbled. He didn't know they cared so much about his happiness, "Well, if you insist. But, we'll still help think up a plan. Maybe Natalia can help." Katherine offered, giving him an encouraging smile.

"Do you have folders on all of us David?" Vivian asked him softly as they all began to move out of the office and towards the lobby.

He sighed, his gut twisting even further as he nodded morosely. Vivian was too sweet and soft spoken to tell him what was what like Nina did, but he could bet she'd feel the same. It was true that Race, Blink, and Mush all knew they had files. 'Employee files', he called them. But, the fact that he had them on their wives and girlfriends, too? Probably not as well advertised.

They passed Jake Miller, who was covering the desk for the holiday evening and who nodded at them, but didn't say a word about the unusual screaming match between his boss and a patron of the hotel. David was thankful for it and he felt a touch of fondness for the quiet, young man who was beginning to show how trustworthy and dependable he could be.

When they were nearly to the front doors and out of hearing distance of Jake, David paused as it dawned on him that none of them seemed angry about the files, "Why are none of you yelling at me for the files?" He asked, glancing towards the women in particular.

"I think we'd be more shocked if ya didn't, Dave." Blink said, off handedly, "I've seen you start them on new hires, Mush has heard you call Carlos on doing a background check, and lord knows Race spends most of the night shifts pryin' through ya office."

That was true, enough. He'd caught Race back there a number of times and a couple of times Race had looked suspiciously guilty. The Italian man was a trustworthy friend, in general, but he was too curious for his own good. He glanced between Vivian and Katherine, "You two aren't going to yell at me like Nina?"

Katherine chuckled as Vivian patted his arm and answered his question, "No, we're not going to yell at you. Mush looked at mine and told me you had nice things written like Wesley and Nancy's birthday and what kind of toy is his favorite."

Mush grinned as David scowled, "I guess I should keep them locked up if you're all going to snoop through there." He told his long-time friend as they all laughed.

"They are harmless files, David. We know you're…a touch neurotic. You like to write things down and look back at them for reference. It's just the way you are." It was Katherine's turn to assure him, and her words loosened the knot in his stomach a bit, especially when she added, "Nina will come around. This is just a bit of a shock for her. But, it also won't hurt to speed up the process by apologizing and making a gesture."

"Which we'll make sure the girls work tirelessly on till they find a good solution." Blink joked, tossing an arm easily around Katy.

Mush reached out to squeeze his shoulder, "Go on home and give the Jacobs' our best. Tell them Happy Thanksgiving from us."

David thanked them all for their kind words and made sure they got in a carriage to go to Race and Clara's before he got into one to go to his parent's apartment. Because as much as he loved them and the small apartment he'd grown up in, he couldn't think of it as home anymore. The hotel seemed more like a home to him than their place and even that was a loose definition of a feeling he didn't really have for any location in particular.

His mother opened the door when he knocked, her face the same as he remembered from his childhood with a few added laugh lines around her mouth, "Happy Thanksgiving." He told her, unenthusiastically, causing her face to scrunch up as he kissed her cheek lightly.

"I thought you were bringing Nina?" She asked, her eyes, mirrors of his own, searching behind him as if he were hiding her. He knew she would be disappointed. She'd been bugging him about meeting Nina since the newspapers hit the stand with their kiss plastered on the front page.

He took his jacket off and hung it on the coat rack, avoiding her gaze as he replied, "No, ma, we kind of got into a fight." He briefly took in the small apartment, noting his father and Ed sitting at the table talking as Sarah stood by the woodfire stove and from the small bedroom he used to share with her and Les, he could hear Les talking to Arthur and Peter.

"David Jacobs what did you do?" Sarah asked, looking over her shoulder as she stirred the gravy.

As if his name were a magic spell, the kids grew quiet for a split second before Arthur and Peter came barreling out of the bedroom and headed straight for him, Les following at a much more sedate pace but stopping to lean on the bedroom door frame to watch them greet David with a face that neither smiled nor frowned in greeting.

David let out a grunt as they both crashed head long into his legs, all hard-headed and elbows. He barely managed to keep the kids from preventing him having any of his own as he crouched down to hug them, "Artie, Peter. Whatya say?" He asked, unconsciously turning on the newsie charm that he'd been around consistently since hiring the boys. At his greeting, they both stepped back, spit in their hands and held them out. As much as the gesture still grossed him out, he mimicked it to them before raising a sardonic eyebrow at Les, "Teaching them bad habits, Les?"

Les Jacobs was eighteen, almost as tall as David now, with hair the same brown, but straighter than David's curly hair. That was about where the similarities ended, though. He hated the fact that David still treated and look at him like he was ten. It didn't help that David was rarely around, though Les knew exactly where to find him most days. But, Les didn't bother to seek out his older brother. They'd once been as thick as thieves, but things grew strained between them as David left school and newsie life to work at the Chelsea and then open his own hotel. David's best guess was that Les harbored resentment for the fact that David 'chased Jack away' and that every negative change in their life was entirely David's fault.

The positive things, like David making a good living to support his parents and Les didn't even occur to the selfish teen. Les continually skipped the school that David paid for to sell papes with Andy, Skittery's little brother they'd all once called Tumbler, and to run around New York like he owned the place in a way that irritatingly reminded David of Jack.

Les shrugged at his question, "What's it to you?" He asked, snottily, his voice so much deeper than the kid voice David remembered. Les ran a hand through his hair that was the same shade of brown as David and Sarah's, and stepped around David to take a seat at the table, "Thanks foah gracin' us with ya presence." He added, folding his arms across his chest and slouching in his chair. He was a strange mix of newsie and educated. His big words seeming at odds with the lower class accent he'd picked up hanging out with Andy.

"Les, what did we talk about earlier?" Esther reprimanded, lightly smacking the back of his head after setting the turkey on the table.

His younger brother grumbled, but didn't add anything else, just avoided David, who took his own seat at the table as Sarah set the gravy down and hugged him from behind, "Well, what happened?" She asked in his ear.

"She found her file." Was all he needed to say. Sarah knew all about his files, teasing him all the time about them and his neurotic behavior about keeping detailed notes on everyone.

"I told you those would get you in trouble one day." She replied, lightly, sitting down between him and Edward and pulling Peter into her lap as Arthur sat on the other side of David.

He rolled his eyes, unable to really refute her, while their mother finished putting the food on the table and their father bid them all to say the blessing before the meal. They all held hands and bowed their heads and David felt a stab of regret in his heart that it was Arthur's small hand in his right one rather than Nina's soft hand. He glanced up at his family, watching them all with their heads bowed, feeling suddenly quite outside of it all. He wished, with every molecule in his body that Nina was here. Smiling at him as she, too, looked up from the blessing to gaze around while no one was paying her any attention.

Except, he'd be paying attention to her.

Resolve set in his stomach as they finished the blessing and everyone began to dig into the food. Whatever it took, he would win her back. They'd only been spending time together for a month and already it felt wrong to be anywhere without her, it made his chest ache. He wanted to share these moments with her.

He remained quiet as they all chatted happily, none of them trying to bring him into the conversation, as if they could sense his unease and bleak mood. He was thankful for that, but he listened as they discussed Ed's bakery, the boys, and what Les was up to. They reminisced about childhood memories, which finally got David talking as he clarified Sarah's story.

"I was sitting there reading and she came tumbling in and knocked the porcelain figurine over. I tried to fix it, which is when Ma walked in and assumed I broke it." He informed them all, to which Sarah wrinkled her nose at him.

"You got up to pick on me and bumped the table it was on!" She defended, laughing when Peter covered his ears at her loud voice. "Sorry, Peter." She murmured, rubbing his back and he snuggled against her.

David rolled his eyes, a sudden flash of belligerence causing his next words to roll from his mouth, "Yeah, it's always my fault, isn't that right, Les?"

Les, who'd been listening to the story, raised an eyebrow in a way that, again, reminded David of Jack. He cast a side glance at their mother and shrugged, "Maybe not always, but most of the time, yeah." He finally settled on, his mouth curling snarkily.

"That's enough, you two." Esther chided, glaring between the two, her eyes the icy blue that only David inherited.

"How's the Sunday Brunch crowd taken to my pastries?" Ed asked, smoothly, before David and Les could get into it.

At the mention of the hotel, something David could talk about for hours, he shifted gears to meet Edward Harkens' hazel eyes. They weren't the same hazel as Jack's, which were brown with the very edges a shade lighter than the inside. Ed's edges looked more grey/blue and the inner iris was a dark brown, like ash on bark. He was shorter than David, more compactly built than lean, but he was a kind man who treated others fairly and adored Sarah with every fiber in his being.

"They can't get enough. I suspect Blink will contact you to double the order. It's very rare to have leftovers of the danishes. The muffins are always the first to go, though." David told him, a flash of Nina licking the cream cheese from the corner of her mouth nearly causing him to forget where he was.

"Good, good." Ed looked pleased, and then Mayer was asking about the new hire Ed had and the conversation shifted from the almost fight with Les.

After dessert, David bid them all good night and thanked his mother for the meal and kissed her and Sarah on the cheek before leaving. Both looked sad and disappointed because they'd been looking forward to meeting Nina. With two sons, the boys of the family were quickly outnumbering the women-not that they hadn't since Les was born.

There was nowhere else to go but the hotel and he found himself back in his office where the fight had started and he pulled out all his files and began to go through them, trying to view the details of his closest friends and decide if anything was there that would bother them. Then, he sat down and sighed as he opened a new file and began to write down things he could remember of Minny, his concerns about the past still getting in the way of his present and he wished more than anything that he could get through this. That there had to be a key to solving this, to seeing the truth of who Nina was before his heart blinded him.

He'd realized as he was defending his files to Nina's face that if he'd just written down the things he knew of Minny at the time, if he'd read them over after the first few fights they had, he'd have seen the truth of her a lot sooner. And Nina was right, he used them now to keep people at a distance. He suspected he'd developed it because of Minny, though there was no way to validate that theory.

"Nina Teleshova just came back. She's already heading up to her room." Jake's voice brought him from his thoughts awhile later and he raised his eyes to meet the man's dark eyes.

"Where did she go?" The question was out before he shook his head, "No, wait. Don't tell me." He didn't want to know, he was going to try and respect her privacy. If she wanted to tell him where she was, she would. He had to be better if he was going to win her back.

Because he'd solved the issue and now…now he just needed to get the girl.

 **A/N: Love, chocolates, and hugs to my regular reviewers, bexlynne and my guest as well as WordyAF who's been sorta beta reading these chapters even though she's uber busy with life rn.**

 **I'm going to shamelessly offer up an incentive. I have the next chapter queued and ready to post and it's A-MAzing, if I do say so myself. The minute I get a review from a non-regular reviewer, I'll post it. ;) Review with your thoughts, please!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	20. Chapter 20

" _I used to write_

 _A lot as a kid._

 _I kept some of the_

 _Journals to remind myself_

 _My mother's son_

 _Is not a wicked man."_

 _-Unsaid,_ Amin Drew Law

* * *

It wasn't particularly late, but after the large, delicious Thanksgiving meal him and Sophie shared, both of them didn't feel like doing much besides lying on the couch, Sophie stretched out half-atop him as she read aloud to him from a book open on his chest, her voice soothing him into contentment. His left arm curled under hers and around her back, his right hand played with the ends of her blonde hair as he watched her with half-lidded eyes, enjoying the play of emotion as she read the words, her voice sometimes lilting up as something exciting happened. Which seemed to happen every chapter.

There was nothing Carlos enjoyed more than spending time like this, just the two of them. Him and his wife.

 _His wife_.

The sharp, recent memory of exchanging vows, of finally claiming her as his own, was so immensely gratifying, he must be part caveman. He couldn't believe his father walked out on his mother before experiencing this feeling. It shouldn't please him so much that Sophie was his and he was hers, but it was a high quite unlike anything else he'd ever known before. Seeing her gold wedding band on her finger and his own, matching but larger one, made his heart swell with such love and adoration, it stunned him to his core.

Sophie, with her gentle steadiness, managed to tame him and evoke more feeling in him than he ever thought he was capable of. While every second apart he feared for her safety, when they were together he could find the strength to get through anything.

She stopped reading as a few raps on the door indicated a visitor and her brows pinched together as she turned those spring, green eyes on him, "Are we expecting someone?" She asked.

He shook his head slowly before rolling her back onto the couch, hiding a smile as she squeaked and tried to save her page as he gracefully extracted himself out from beneath her, "Coming." He called out as the person knocked again, a little hesitantly. Not knowing what to expect, Carlos opened the door slowly to reveal just about the last person he'd expected, "Nina?" He took in her watery eyes, the tear stains that cut down her cheeks, and her rather harried look, "Are you alright?" He asked, immediately pulling her through the door and steering her over to sit in the closest chair before she could even open her mouth.

The Prima Ballerina gave him a strained smile as he set her in the chair, looking distracted and somehow melancholy all at the same time, "Uh, I hope I am not bothering you? I just…I have these and I read them and now…now, I am here." Her accent was thicker than usual and he struggled to understand as she blew out a frustrated breath and held out a box he hadn't realized she'd been holding.

He took it without thought and set it on the table so he could kneel down in front of her, "What's wrong? Did someone hurt you? Attack you? Was it David?" He narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized her face.

"Carlos." Sophie's soft words came as she placed her hand on his shoulders, "Let her gather her wits before you start interrogating her." She smiled reassuringly at Nina, who looked relieved to have someone with sense, "Nina, dear, would you like some tea? I have mint and regular."

Nina slouched back in the chair, "Mint sounds wonderful. Thank you, Sophie."

Carlos continued to eye Nina, but his eyes caught on the corner of a photograph peeking out from the box she'd handed to him and he opened it to see a much younger him and his mother staring up from the wooden box. He sighed, picking up the photograph and cradling it in his hands as though it were precious, "I read the letter Vasilisa wrote back, of how beautiful she thought my mother was and how I'd someday be a 'strong, stout man'."

Nina chuckled, "Many men in Russia are stout…you are not. Strong maybe, but not stout."

They grinned at each other before he stood and pulled a chair over to sit closer to her and to go through the contents of the box, "I recognize Vasilisa's writing." He murmured, picking up the envelopes and brushing a finger across it, "How much do you know?" The question came out suddenly, because he'd been dying to ask her it since the moment he recognized her in the Benjamin Restaurant. He'd been disheartened to see no recognition in her eyes as he introduced himself.

"I…" She paused, shuffled through the envelopes until she found the one she wanted and then handed it to him, "I know this. But, that's all."

He met her eyes, the ones that matched his, the ones they'd both inherited from their father. On her, they looked right, beautiful even, contrasting with her pale skin and dark hair, on him…he'd always felt more like a freak than he'd ever admit out loud. The strange DNA hiccup that showed his hybrid parentage; blue eyes that kept him from mingling too long with the few immigrants from Spain he'd encountered, and the olive-toned skin that kept him apart from the white men that ran the city.

Slowly, trying not to think about it, he opened the letter dated November 5th, 1899 and read the words that followed. He felt a stab of regret that he hadn't written back to Vasilisa. He'd sent her word of Carmen's death and then he'd moved in with Fox and taken to his skip trace training, never thinking she really gave a damn about her friends' kid. Her daughter's half-brother. Someone across the entire world from her.

But, she did. It was plain in her words, in the way she easily forgave Carmen for enticing away the father of her child and then continuing to correspond with her even after she fell for him in the same way Vasilisa did. It spoke volumes of the inner beauty she'd been gifted with. "Charles ran off before my mother knew she was pregnant with me. I've no idea where he is." He told Nina, handing back the letter and standing as Sophie brought over two cups of mint tea. "Give me a second." He murmured, excusing himself from the two women to hurry into the bedroom. He pushed back the bed slightly and lifted up a floorboard, his hand diving into the blackness of the small space and searching out the material he sought.

His hands enclosed around the stack of letters, one of the few things he'd kept from his mother's old apartment. Just those letters, a necklace that bore her family's crest, and two journals. One she'd kept and one she insisted he kept from the moment he could write full sentences.

Carlos only took the letters this time, dropping the floorboard back into place, he pushed the bed back and then stood for a second as he realized the significance of this night.

Even though he knew he wasn't alone-hadn't been alone since Sophie came in to his life-he felt something momentous build in his chest.

He was not alone. He had a sister.

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Sophie's soft voice pulled Nina from inhaling the fresh, minty aroma of the tea as Carlos disappeared into the bedroom.

"Of course." Nina replied, turning her head to look at the blonde woman. Sophie leaned against the counter with one hip, her own cup of tea cradled in her two hands as she blew on it gently and looked thoughtfully back at Nina. She had a proclivity for pink, Nina decided, her mouth hooking up in dry amusement as she waited for the woman's question. She couldn't recall seeing Sophie in a dress that wasn't some shade of pink. Not that it didn't look nice on her, but she thought Sophie would look even more lovely in a dress of green or violet.

Sophie tipped her head to the side, "Are you just now finding out Carlos is your half-brother? Why now?"

Nina grinned wryly and took a sip of her tea before answering the question, "It's a long story." Just as Carlos came out of the bedroom with a stack of letters tied up with a strand of twine.

"We've got all night." He said, easily, sitting down once more and placing the letters on the table, "I have all the letters your mother wrote to mine. Unfortunately, we don't have my mother's, so we'll only get half the story."

Nina reached hesitantly for the letters but stopped midway, "I'm sure Carmen's letters are kept with my mother's things at my estate. When I go back there, I'll find them. We'll read them all together. Tonight…I don't think I can read anymore." She met his eyes that she realized were identical to hers, eyes 'bluer than the summer skies' her mother wrote when she described Charles, and she felt a wave of affection for Carlos and a sense of wonder. She was no longer alone, was never actually alone at all. "For now, I wish to know you. My…brother." She all but tasted the title, looking at the man across from her and mentally pairing his face with the label. As she did, she picked up the subtle similarities besides the eyes. They also shared their father's nose, straight and aristocratic.

" _Hermana_. It doesn't mean dancer, it means sister." He murmured, dropping his gaze and looking just a touch shamed that he'd lied.

She chuckled, "It's good that you lied, I would have thought you crazy if I didn't read the words my mother wrote me."

His sharp gaze lifted to scrutinize her, "Why didn't you read these letters before tonight?"

Instead of answering right away, she mused aloud, "Whoever put together my file for David didn't know this secret. Which is good, because I could lose all of my inheritance."

Carlos narrowed his eyes, "How do you know about David's files?"

She turned to him and tilted her head, "I guess you're his friend and you'd know he has them on all of you." She muttered, annoyed, "I didn't. I was in his office waiting for him to go to Thanksgiving and found the file."

It was his turn to laugh, though it was dry and unamused, "I'd hardly call David and I friends. I only know about the files, _hermana_ , because I'm the one he calls to find all the information he needs. I didn't feel he needed to know your paternity was different than what is listed on official records."

Nina sat back, stunned, " _You_ put together his files? How did you learn of…of Ivan?" But, she had to admit she never thought of David and Carlos as friends. When she'd been in the hotel room with both of them, she hadn't noticed a friendly air between the two as the apparent one between David and Mush, Blink, and Race. Rather, they seemed to circle each other and keep at a distance from the other in a very disconcerting way.

He shrugged easily, breaking her from her musings, "Ballerinas gossip. They told me many outlandish stories of you and I pieced together the truth. They believed you married him in private, then took his money and ran back to the company. I found no records of a marriage so, I assumed, your parents sent you back to the company and you cut ties with him. Then I found record of his marriage to a girl from the same town."

Nina's brows furrowed, "Were you in Russia? How did you see all these records?"

Carlos sighed, "The ins and outs of my business are complicated." Sophie snorted at that and he tossed her a grin as he continued, "Let's just say I'm acquainted with a few Russians that come in and out of the country often. I outsourced the record work to them to bring back what I needed to confirm the details. David probably would have cut me out if he knew any of the contacts I knew."

She shook her head, mystified. She hadn't thought her first conversation with Carlos, her brother, would be about David and his file on her, "I guess you are a Private Investigator." She muttered, more to herself than them.

Carlos was watching her with a critical eye, "Were you angry about David's file? Is that why you're here and not with him?"

Her shoulders tensed as her anger from earlier came back, but it felt lukewarm now. As if, while she read her mother's letters and worked through other revelations, her mind began to piece together her problem with David and she realized the truth. Even as David used the files to keep people at a distance, she used her cold personality to do the same thing. Yet, David never got pissed at her for being cold and distant. He'd graciously let her cancel their date, gave her space tonight, and always let her have the alone time she needed. David on the other hand, needed those files to record details he thought were important, to analyze people because he caught so many imperceptible specifics of their personality that he needed a way to organize it all. He was logical and liked order and labels. How could she be upset about something that was so _him_?

By holding it against him, she was holding him at arm's length. "Yes, I got angry when I found it. It just felt so…embarrassing. Humiliating and violating to see your entire life in a folder for someone else to look at."

Sophie, who'd been quiet through it all, reached out and squeezed Nina's forearm lightly, "That's awful. I'm sorry you felt that way. I guess it is unnerving to know he has a file on me, but I don't know David all that well."

"He does _not_ have a file on you." Carlos bit out, head whipping from Nina to scowl at his wife, though they knew it wasn't directly meant for her. Nina and Sophie both raised eyebrows at him and he shook his head, "I told him if he made a file on you, I'd…" He paused, re-thinking the words he almost said and then settled on, "Well, it's not for a lady's ears." He turned to Nina, "If you'd like, I'll tell him to destroy your file and threaten him the same."

Nina smiled at the protective offer, thinking perhaps she could get used to having a brother, "I already have it, but thank you. I don't know, yet, how I'm going to handle this. I'm afraid I didn't leave him room to defend himself."

"What does your gut say?" Carlos asked, lowly, not meeting her eyes but rather staring steadily at Sophie, who was stirring her tea and unaware of his gaze until she looked up and smiled at him. Nina felt her insides flutter at the tenderness between the two who seemed as different as night and day.

She turned her attention to her heart and gut, wondering what she truly thought of the file now that her anger was cooling and the letters were read. Her mother's advice on people making mistakes and forgiving them, on her words about finding a man you wanted to run to. After a long moment of reflection, she sighed, "I want to run to David. To trust him, to give him a chance. But, I can't. I don't want to fight for someone who doesn't want to fight for me. I don't want to put everything into someone who won't return it tenfold."

Carlos seemed to think that over, but it was Sophie who spoke as she gazed off as if remembering something, "'Everyone needs someone who will fight for them.'" She straightened as she realized she said the words out loud and her cheeks flushed as she explained to Nina, "That's what Jack told me when Carlos and I were…separated for a short time. So, I came back here to do just that." The blonde beamed at Carlos across the table and Nina was stunned to see him drop his head.

"I should have never let you leave in the first place." He murmured, shamefaced, "But, I let fear drive us apart." He met Nina's gaze, "I may not call David a friend, but I always check into the background of people who hire me. He has his own ghost that haunts him, at least he did until you came along. He doesn't concern himself with many people, but the ones he does, he focuses on with great attention. Sometimes it's more annoying than he realizes."

Nina chuckled, remembering one of the nights they ate down in the restaurant, just the two of them, and he'd gotten up multiple times to hound Skittery. He thought he was improving the young man's performance, but Nina could tell he was irritating Skittery and the ex-newsie was beginning to retaliate by intentionally slacking off more and more. Which just cycled back to David criticizing him and…well, it was a vicious cycle for the two vastly different men.

But, it was a good example of what Carlos was telling her. David would probably never admit to caring for Skittery, and he sure as hell wouldn't think that was the reason for David's attention, but it was there at the continued leniency he gave Skit. "I know that, my anger just clouded my judgement. I will apologize to him and then he will have the option to fight for me or bow out." She sounded confident as she said it, but her stomach did funny flips and flops that proved otherwise.

Carlos' mouth hooked up, "Would you like to sleep on our couch tonight or do you want me to escort you back to the Ben?" He asked.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to head back." She rose from the chair, feeling more exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster of the night than she'd ever felt after a performance.

Her brother-would the title ever grow old?-was already up, kissing his wife on the cheek and murmuring that he'd be back soon, then moving to help Nina put on her coat and then his own. "Thank you for the tea and hospitality, Sophie." Nina told the green-eyed woman, who smiled softly and stood to kiss Nina's cheek.

"Show up whenever you need to, Nina. You are family now." She replied, seeing them out the door.

Carlos and Nina fell into step as they took the four flights of stairs down, and she decided to fill him in on the events that led to her ignoring her mother's letter for eight years. He listened intently, never butting in to ask for clarification and never judging her. That, above all us, made affection for him grow in her heart, like a tiny flower just beginning to bloom, and she felt hope. When they reached the hotel, she paused and glanced up at the tall, fourteen flours that rose above them, though more guarding than threatening.

"Carlos?" She asked, still looking up and not really willing to meet his gaze as she asked something that made her feel so vulnerable, "I…I plan on retiring. But, after settling my affairs back home, I'd like a real home. A stopping place. I was wondering…if it would be alright with you if I stayed here, in New York?" She ducked her head and then peaked hesitantly up at him.

He was grinning, as he rarely did. "I'd like nothing more than to have my sister live nearby. Or you can stay with Soph and I if…" He tilted his head at the hotel, "if David doesn't wise up." He winked before pulling open the door and holding it for her, "Good night, Nina."

"Good night, Carlos." She grinned back at him and then entered the warm hotel. Her eyes skittered over the earthy tones that decorated the lobby, familiar now after living here for six weeks, and comforting because it brought to mind her David. Solid as rock and just as steadfast.

She hoped he came through.

 **A/N: I have major heart-eye emoji for this chapter because I played with the idea of Carlos and Nina being half-siblings for so long. Sigh...thank you to my reviewers, WordyAF, Bexlynne, and my lovely guest reviewer!**

 **Review, please!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	21. Chapter 21

" _She is both_

 _Hellfire and holy water._

 _And the flavor you taste_

 _Depends on how you_

 _Treat her."_

 _-Sneha Pal_

* * *

It was easy to miss opportunities to speak to David, to apologize and face what she believed would be an apathetic acceptance, when she was so incredibly busy. The weekend prior to Thanksgiving was the final run for _Les millions d'Arlequin_ , and the following two weeks, except for the holiday, were to be spent in rigorous and long practices until their opening night of _The Nutcracker_.

Except, it was hard to avoid all of David's friends when they worked there. Mush greeted her and Natalia Friday morning as they hurried across the lobby, trying not to be late for practice and probably failing considering their late night. They called out half-hearted hellos, neither looking at the kind, curly-headed man directly as they bolted for a carriage to the theater.

"It was awful, Hazel was sobbing and Jack and I were staring at each other and everyone was trying to help and…" Natalia let out a frustrated noise and Nina patter her back, murmuring comforts.

Natalia's Thanksgiving had crumbled just as fast as Nina's. She'd come home so upset by the evening, Nina hadn't found a way, yet, to tell her that she'd read the letters. That she had a brother. "It will be alright, _sakhar_." _Sugar,_ she purred to her best friend, having already heard the full story and just letting Natalia vent about Jack's daughter's reaction to the two of them. "Children are adaptable, but they need time to adjust."

Natalia nodded her head, squared her shoulders and plastered a smile on for practice, the two of them silently agreeing to throw themselves into dancing and not dwell on their problems. For the first time in a long time, Nina hadn't been cast as the lead for a ballet, and to be perfectly honest she was excited about it. Natalia fit the role of Clara a thousand times more than Nina ever could, with her tiny stature and soft features, and Nina was looking forward to getting to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. Sergei, of course, was still the lead as both the Nutcracker and Prince parts, with Nikolai cast as the imposing Mouse King.

Nina watched as Natalia giggled a few times during their scene where Clara was supposed to be frightened of the Mouse King. "I'm sorry, Nikolai, it's just so hard to find you intimidating when I know how sweet you are." She heard Natalia say to him, causing her to raise her eyebrows at her best friend.

Nikolai took it in stride, suggesting softly, "Imagine I'm the man who entered your room, but instead of running, he came for you."

That stopped the giggles, and Nina sent a few scowls Nikolai's way for being so unnecessarily mean. The man was always so mean and harsh, it was a wonder Natalia even put up with him.

Not to mention everyone knew who Nikolai's father was.

Except, perhaps, Natalia. Nina rolled her eyes as her friend's continued obliviousness at all things Kostova, and then jumped on stage for her scene with her cavalier of fairies. It was somehow more exhilarating to dance when it was to avoid her thoughts and worries, letting herself go to the music, muscles warming from the dancing, she felt like she was one with the other dancers.

After practice, they headed back to the hotel and Nina found herself hanging back when Jack was out front waiting to see Natalia, his face breaking into a grin the moment he spotted her. Nina watched Natalia run full speed toward him, smiling as he let her crash into him and they murmured to each other before going inside to talk.

Sighing, Nina leaned against the wall for a moment before catching a reporter coming down the street. Any story, even one as silly as her leaning out front of the hotel, seemed to be enough to bring them flocking, so she ducked into the alley and headed back to the service entrance, hoping someone would let her in back there.

As luck would have it, Skittery was just lighting a cigarette as she turned the corner and he grinned at her, "Nina, how's it rollin'? Everyone's all abuzz about you screamin' at Davey and might I say it's about time?"

She rolled her eyes, but was glad to see him. "You mean you didn't hear it first hand?" She inquired, sitting down beside him. Nina liked Skittery, though she couldn't pinpoint what exactly about him it was. He looked disheveled most of the time, though mainly for David's benefit, but he was funny and almost every other word out of his mouth dripped in sarcasm. His ability to pick up on what annoyed others was also a gift that made for hours of entertainment. She'd eaten dinner in the hotel one night a week or so ago, when David was busy with some hotel debacle or other, and she'd watched Skittery mercilessly tease another waiter by simply moving certain things; whether it was the pad he took orders on, his pen, or the tray of drinks, Skittery spent a lot of time and energy doing it quietly and just so subtly that he never got caught doing it.

"Nah, I left with the street kids to spend Thanksgiving with my brother. Missed the whole scene, sadly." He did look bummed about it as he took a drag of his cigarette and a lock of dark, brown hair fell into his eyes.

She couldn't help but chuckle and she tilted her head, "Can I try a cigarette?" She asked, suddenly feeling like she wanted to be just a touch reckless.

"Shoah." He handed her the one he'd been smoking and she raised her brows as she took it and hesitantly brought it to her lips. "It's not a cigar, ya gotta inhale it into your lungs."

Nina wanted to ask him why he thought she'd tried cigars, but she was already sucking in the tobacco, breathing it into her lungs before a coughing fit took hold and she handed back the cigarette as she pressed a hand to her chest and coughed out all the smoke.

"Weren't you in Paris before this? Don't they smoke all the time?" Skittery asked, patting her back and attempting to hide the humor in his tone.

She didn't reply until the coughs stopped racking her throat, and she could breathe again, "They do, but my director forbid us all. Said it ruined the lungs and made dancing harder. But, soon I will retire, what do I care?"

"Disappointing your boss, too, Neen? That's the spirit!" Skittery handed back the cigarette and she gave it another go, the coughing afterwards not as body-racking as the first time. "Ya gettin' the hang of it." He told her, smiling when he took it back, brown eyes warm as hot cocoa.

But, gazing into them made her miss David's icy blues and she dropped her eyes and sighed. "I didn't know you had a brother." She stated, more for something to talk about to fill the silence and to keep her from thinking about the man she'd rather be with.

"Yeah, Andy. He'll be sixteen, soon. Nothin' like realizin' ya little brother's gettin' older to make yous' feel old." The fondness in his voice as he spoke of his brother made her smile and he grinned back, "Cheer up, Neen. I'm sure David will fix things between you two soon."

Her smile fell a bit as she took the proffered cigarette, "I-"

"Skittery!" The familiar, irritated voice came a second before Skittery grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the service door behind them right before it was thrown open by none other than David Jacobs himself. He froze taking in the two of them, the cigarette in Nina's one hand and Skittery's hand still holding her other one.

"Hey, Davey. I was just finishing a cigarette and I was comin' back in." Skittery said, dropping her hand like it was on fire and shaking his hair out of his face as he moved to go back into the kitchens.

David let him go in but not before passing him a dark look that didn't go unnoticed to Nina. Which thrilled her a little bit, because it meant that David did care, at least a little bit. She dropped the cigarette and stepped it out, searching for something to say to break the sudden, tense silence that fell between them. "We were just talking." She murmured, aware that she didn't need to tell him anything but unable to bear the thought of him thinking she was doing anything other than talking with his friends.

"That's what people say when they were doing something else." He retorted, snidely.

She folded her arms over her chest, "Or when all they were doing was talking." She glared up at him, in the doorway, "Have I ever lied to you, David?"

His jaw ticked for a moment before he sighed and his shoulders relaxed and he answered her, "No, Nina. You're right. I'm sorry." He paused before stepped out and shutting the door behind him, "And I need to apologize about yesterday."

"David-" She started.

He shook his head, "No, hear me out, I'm really very sorry about the file. I didn't mean for you to find out about it that way. I would have told you eventually, it's no secret, I promise. But, I hated that you stumbled upon it and I know it made you feel awful and I…just, haven't let any women close since…well, and I'm not good at this kind of stuff." He paused, as though to continue, but Nina stepped forward and placed a hand on his cheek, stopping all words as she gazed up at him.

"This kind of stuff like a relationship?" She asked, softly, hoping too much that maybe he did want to fight for her.

He laid his hand over hers, "And fighting."

Nina sighed, swept away quite suddenly by her sweet, work-a-holic hotelier and she felt the anger from the fight all but disappear as she gazed into his concerned eyes. Icy blue that made her insides heat up, "I would have liked to find out from you, but I am sorry for yelling and not giving you room to defend yourself. I needed time to…process."

He gripped her shoulders, but not hurtfully, and told her, "I want to make it up to you. Take you some place special." His earnestness caused her to smile the first real one in twenty-four hours. It wasn't a big spectacle, this apology, but it felt good. It felt right. And he obviously still wanted a chance with her. She hoped this make-up date he planned would ease her fears, prove that this would work.

"Will you tell me?" She asked, gazing up at him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer, making her suddenly breathless.

David's eyes hooded just a touch, "No, it's a surprise but a good one, I promise." He gave a small, silly smile, "It just remembered it. Are you free Sunday?"

"Mmm, yes. I think I can cancel my plans." She joked lightly before wrapping her arms around his neck and murmuring, "Now kiss me, David."

Dutifully, he obeyed her, but the kiss was not exactly chaste or obsequious. It was hot and demanding, him claiming her lips with a need and passion he usually kept a tight rein on. For a moment, she was too stunned by the heat to really fall into it, but then she felt it consume and light her insides up like a forest fire. It shook her foundation, realizing this was his reaction to almost losing her over a silly fight, and Nina felt so treasured and adored she was on the border of giving him anything he wanted.

Until he broke off the kiss, his breaths heavy in her ear as he pressed his head into the curve of her neck and shoulder, "Nina." He gasped, "Don't leave me to face my family without you again." He murmured, which was as close to an I love you as one could get so early on in their time together.

Anyway, with those words she found herself hopelessly in love with him. It was so obvious to her now, as she ran her fingers through his curly hair and murmured small, Russian endearments. He kissed her neck lightly, causing her to let out a low groan, "David, perhaps in the service alley isn't the best place for that." Though, she definitely wanted to come back to those delightful neck kisses.

He pulled away immediately, brushing his hands over her hair to smooth down any fly-aways and he kissed her forehead lightly, "Alright, let me walk you back up to your room."

"Or dinner?" She asked, hopefully.

Chuckling, he opened the back door and ushered her in, "Bernard, I need food for this lovely lady, now!"

A flurry of vulgar, angry French swear words filtered from around the corner and Nina gasped and laughed as she comprehended what the Chef was saying. David eyed her before his eyes widened, "What's he saying?" He whispered, eyes alight as he watched her laugh.

She barely gasped out the translation, "He said he would…sauté your balls and mix them into his next batch of bouillabaisse. But, with lots of curse words in between."

He hmphed, "That little talent of yours will definitely come in handy when he's fighting with Blink." He slipped his hand into hers and led her to one of the small, private booths on the one side of the restaurant, sliding in on the same side as her and wrapping an arm around her waist, "Is this alright?" He asked, shyly.

"Mm, yes, but not close enough." She murmured back to him, feeling reckless again and she scooted in the booth so she was right against him, basking in the warmth and solidness of David Jacobs.

Skittery stepped over to their table, looking just a touch uneasy, and she felt David tense, "Looks like you fixed things, Davey. Atta boy. What can I get you two ta drink?" His words belied the caution he felt as he stayed just out of reach of David.

David looked at her, "A scotch and a vodka." He told him shortly, and Skittery nodded and beat it out of there quicker than a bat out of hell.

"David." Nina purred, reaching over to lightly squeeze his thigh, "Skittery and I were talking about his brother and he told me not to worry, that you would fix everything between us."

She watched as her words visibly eased the tenseness in his shoulder and he peeked at her from the corner of his eye, "Really?"

Nodding, she leaned in and kissed his cheek, "Really. Your friends care about you. Skittery is a sweetheart, but I'm looking at the man I want to spend my extra hours with." She met his gaze steadily as she said the words and he leaned in to kiss her again, but restrained himself compared to earlier.

"I trust you, Nina." He told her, "But that doesn't mean I like the thought of your lips on the same cigarette as Skittery's."

"I promise it won't happen again. Only your lips for mine." Nina said, smiling and giving him a quick peck to prove her point.

 **A/N: Thank you so much to my wonderful reviewers, bexlynne, WordyAF, and my guest! You guys rock, never change, hugs and kisses!**

 **Review please!**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


	22. Chapter 22

" _There is a beautiful thing inside you_

 _That is thousands of years old._

 _Too old to be captured in poems._

 _Too old to be loved by everyone_

 _But loved so very deeply_

 _By a chosen few."_

 _-Old Souls,_ Nikita Gill

* * *

First thing the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving, David Jacobs was ringing the doorbell of Clara and Anthony Higgins' home. He was surprised when Clara opened the door herself and not a maid. "David." She greeted, pleasantly. She was fully dressed in a pale, sage day dress complete with an emerald shawl that draped around her shoulders, looking as though she'd been up for an hour at least. She was holding a book in one hand, a finger saving the page, as she murmured, "What a nice surprise. Come in."

She stepped to the side and he thanked her as he entered, removing his coat as she shut the door and the warmth of the home settled around them. Clara was watching him with intelligent, green eyes, her face neither questioning or probing him, just accepting him into her home. "Tony's not up, yet." She told him finally, setting her book next to a vase with flowers to take his coat and hang it up for him.

Ducking his head slightly, David cleared his throat before replying, "I'm actually here to see you." He felt the sheepish smile pull the corner of his mouth up before he could really stop it.

"Oh?" Clara asked, clearly intrigued now, "Katy and Viv mentioned helping you with Nina…" She trailed off, tilting her head to look up at him.

Sometimes, he forgot how short she was. He all but towered over the petite, red-head and it hit him quite suddenly that he very much liked how tall Nina was. A quick, entirely inappropriate image of her long legs wrapped around him made a hot flush climb up his neck and cheeks, "Uh, we made up but I am here for a favor." He told her, trying to redirect his thoughts from the fantasy that he very much wanted to make a reality.

Clara smiled sweetly, "David Jacobs, hotelier extraordinaire wanting a favor from me?" Her voice was a touch awed, "What is it?"

She looked like she half wanted to run and tell someone this startling news, as if she couldn't quite believe it, and David sighed as he reconsidered going to Clara for help. Clara wasn't really someone he saw as loose-tongued; however, she was married to Racetrack Higgins and she didn't keep secrets from her husband. Therefore, everyone across the city would know by dinner that David was here for dance lessons.

"I need dance lessons." He figured it was best to just come right out and say it, but didn't really expect the words to echo in the large foyer, the marble not quite absorbing the words but bouncing them around as though they were taunting him. He could talk Teddy Roosevelt into investing in his hotel, but now everyone would know he couldn't dance.

Blinking at him a few times, Clara digested his statement, and then smiled brilliantly, "Alright, let me send messengers and cancel some things and then we'll push the furniture to the side in the parlor." She was walking away as she listed what needed done, heading towards the kitchen, "Henrietta!" She disappeared as she called for someone David didn't know and he stood there awkwardly as he waited for things to settle down.

Despite her size, Clara barked orders like a general in the army, and David couldn't remember ever seeing this side of her. He found a new respect for her, and slightly for Race, as he and her gardener, John, pushed furniture around.

"That will do. Now, what dance did you want to start with first?" Clara asked, as John clapped David on the shoulder and left the room. David felt his blush return as he pulled out the booklet of events and handed it to her.

"This is the order of the dances. We're going to the Farewell Banquet and Ball tomorrow at Coney Island."

Clara gasped, green eyes round as saucers as she looked over the pamphlet that included the dinner being served, the members of the ships that were departing New York's harbor, and the picture of the President on the front cover, "You got an invite to that? Not even my parents got one."

He sighed, a tad embarrassed about his connection to the former Mayor of New York and practically the sole reason he was able to open the Benjamin Hotel at eighteen, "President Roosevelt always invites me to events when he's in the city and I almost never go. But, I thought Nina would enjoy dancing and getting dressed up. I think they were surprised when I accepted the invite and with a date."

Clara chuckled, "I bet. David Jacobs…with a woman." She mumbled the words, shaking her head as she looked over the booklet before she realized what she said and a blush colored her cheeks, "Sorry, that was rude. I've been hanging around Tony too long." The red head told him, avoiding his eyes as he suppressed a smile and she sighed as she added, "I just remember inviting you to every dinner we held in the hopes you'd like any of my eligible friends. You never so much as glanced at one of them."

He ran a hand over his mouth nervously as he considered how to reply to that without offending her or sticking his foot in his mouth as he so often did. He needed her help if he was going to learn theses dances, "Your friends were all lovely…they just weren't-I mean, I wasn't ready-" Cutting himself off he felt his shoulders slump, "I'm sorry, Clara. But, I'm asking you to help me with this woman now?" His hopeful question did the trick, causing Clara to toss the booklet and square her shoulders.

"Yes. No matter about those other women, Nina is a fine choice. I had my doubts in the beginning, but losing that bet taught me a lesson. Now, let's teach you one." Clara proved to be an excellent, though unsympathetic, teacher in the hours following his arrival. She didn't let him take a break until he learned each dance flawlessly, which meant he rarely got one. She drilled and critiqued his form to the point that he began to wonder why he thought this was a good idea. She even called in Henrietta, the lovely, albeit rather buxom, head of the household staff for him to dance with while she looked over his form and steps.

It was early afternoon by the time Race came down stairs, griping about the noise and then falling onto the floor laughing as he stepped into the parlor and found David dancing with Henrietta as Clara glared at him, "Tony, you're disrupting my lesson!"

He howled in laughter, choking out the words, "David's learning to dance!" In between fits that shook his entire body. David scowled and tried to ignore him as Clara quickly turned off the music playing from the phonograph and he and Henrietta stopped dancing. Her hands went to her hips and she tapped her foot as she glared at Race until his laughter stopped and he sobered up. He gazed up at her with dark eyes still dancing merrily from where he was on the floor, "Clara, ya can't blame me. This is gold material." He was pointing at David and Henrietta, as though she couldn't see them.

"Tony, I am helping our friend out and you can either be his dance partner or sit there quietly." Her threat made David chuckle, but it got Race off his feet, his hands going up in a defensive position as he backed slowly out of the room.

Clara caught David's eye and she gave a smug smile that made him laugh a little harder as he told her, "You'll make a great mother, Clara."

It was always the words he least suspected that usually brought a reaction that made him realize too late that he'd said something wrong. Clara's complexion paled and she forced a kind smile, but he could see a sparkle of tears fill her green eyes, causing them to look almost kaleidoscopic before she turned her back to him to re-crank the phonograph. "Alright, back into position you two." She called out, a wavering note in the beginning that diminished as she turned back to them with a steeled, more composed look. David quickly took Henrietta's waist and hand, letting Clara have her pride as he timed his steps to her counts and threw himself back into his education.

David felt a bit of a kinship to Nina, and a new respect for her craft, as he wiped his brow and realized he'd been dancing almost all day, as Nina undoubtedly was right now. They took a break for dinner and then continued to practice until the sun began to set and he decided he'd had enough. Even if he made a complete and utter fool of himself tomorrow, at least he'd tried. He thought Nina might at least respect that.

"Thank you, Clara." He told her, sincerely, as he stood at the door. Race was behind him, smoking a cigar on the front step as he pulled Clara in for a hug. He gave her an extra squeeze for whatever he'd said that almost made her cry and then let her go. "I'm humbled that you gave up your entire day for me." He added, because it was true.

Clara beamed up at him, "If it helps land you the woman you love, of course I'd give up a day of my time."

He opened his mouth to argue, because he wasn't sure, yet, that he loved Nina, but he couldn't force the words out. He nodded, instead, and then turned to Race as Clara shut the door behind him. Race smiled up at him, "Awright, David. Now, you'll be ready ta dance at ya wedding." He pressed the hand with the cigar to his stomach as he lifted his free hand up and did a half-dance from his sitting position, cackling as he flicked ash off his pants, "David learning to dance. Blink's gonna keel ovah."

"Are you walking with me to the Ben for your shift?" David asked, ignoring Race's amusement at his expense.

Race nodded, putting his cigar out on the concrete step, "Yeah, gimme a second ta kiss Clara goodbye." David shook his head at Race's unabashed adoration of the tiny red head, but waited patiently for the Italian's return before starting the journey back to the hotel.

He felt rather eager and excited about tomorrow. Especially now that he knew he wasn't going to be sitting there and watching his girl dance with men who knew how. And not just any men; rich, powerful men that basically ran the country. Nina would have her pick of any one of them and he was nervous that she might choose someone else.

"Race?" He asked, burying his hands into his coat pockets to keep them from the bitter cold of late November.

"Yeah?"

Sighing, David decided to just go right ahead and tell his friend what happened, so he could shed light on the situation, "I told Clara she would make a great mother and she almost cried."

Race had re-lit his cigar, and he took a pull of it, his face uncharacteristically devoid of any emotions as he nodded, almost resolutely, before blowing out the smoke and casting a side eye look to David, "She had a miscarriage in October." He finally got out, his voice a little raspy and David realized he was just as upset as Clara seemed earlier. "Didn't tell anyone except me and Sophie. She was only a couplah months along but she got so excited about it and then it was gone."

"I'm sorry, Race." David whispered, swallowing back a lump in his throat. Race and Clara were so good for one another, like two best friends who spent every spare moment together and never got sick of each other. He'd always envied them, could remember when Race came back from the Chicago trip, a new light in his eyes that was a mixture of happiness and hope. It was a light that hadn't been in the gambler's eyes for a long time. Though he'd proposed to her after only three months of dating, their year and a half long engagement had been a wonderful foundation to a marriage that deserved to expand. David couldn't think of any couple more deserving of children to share their unconditional love with.

Race nodded, "The midwife says miscarriages so early are common enough, but she was so happy, Dave, and now she feels like she let me down?" Race shook his head, his face troubled and awed at the same time, "That woman has got more emotions than I know how ta deal with most days."

David chuckled at Race's light humor and his inability to handle Clara. He'd always sidestepped difficult situations with humor and this was no exception. "As long as she knows you don't feel let down."

Race looked thoughtful, "She knows that…but, it's times like these that I wished I'd listened ta what my ma always said."

Brows furrowing, David looked at his friend, "What did she say?"

He looked at David from the corner of his eye before he shrugged and deadpanned, "I don't know, I wasn't listening."

Sighing as Race laughed at his own joke, David shook his head as the Benjamin came into view.

 **A/N: Sooo sooo sorry this took forever. I fell down the blackhole that is Riverdale, but I PROMISE I'd never abandon this series! I still have so much planned for our two couples and I've even thought about a little-bit-in-the-future story with Les and Clara's sister Diana . Anywho, drop me a review and light a fire under my butt to finish the next one! (And love and thanks to my wonderful reviewers!)**

 **Truly,**

 **Joker is Poker with a J~**


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